A ... not in the hospital day.
A day to do whatever he wanted to do day ... and he built a little pink bike. Gosh sweet.
One day last week he told me about another bike he built. He was probably eight years old, brown as a little raisin ... summer, the summer after that great April Fool's Day prank ... my older brother woke him up, telling him that a ton of planes had landed in the school yard near our house, come on hurry, get up, it's like an invasion ... . He really never believed it, but he did get up to go see ... a good sport, he really was never gullible (I was, my brothers weren't ... they were more the seeing is believing types). He said that summer day he rode his bike through ditches full of water, probably up to the seat. It just seemed interesting ... could a bicycle be pedaled through water ... what would that be like?
He said it was fun ... and funny.
Then ... he decided he better take his bike completely apart ... and dry it, and oil it. He laughed as he remembered.
"Gosh, really? Completely apart?" I asked him ... hard to believe even for me.
He said it was so completely apart that there was nothing left to disassemble ... and then our dad walked up and saw it on his way in after a day's work.
"Whatcha doin' boy?" His eyebrows were raised, his voice was soft as always.
I laughed right there in the hospital room when he told me. Sure ... sounds just like our dad.
Tommy told him the story of the water and the fun of it I guess. I think he said Daddy asked him if he was going to be able to get it all back together. All the parts ... lined up ... dried and oiled ... shining in the evening sun ... and a little kid sitting there, probably with a great big grin on his face. "Yes sir" he would have said, "I believe I can." And our daddy laughed and went on inside. I said he was probably peeking out through the front window ... watching his boy, and I know he woulda been smiling.
He got it all back together ... of course. He's always been good at fixing things. I didn't even have to ask him if Daddy had to help.
Sweet ... sweet little memories. He broke his arm that same summer. Didn't slow him down much as I recall.
Today he built a bike for his little granddaughter ... his wife's granddaughter who calls him PapaTom. And she loves him. Family are the people we hold in our hearts. I love that he has a full heart ... a perfect heart (we watched it on a EKG just a couple of days ago ... it was super cool and I smiled when the tech said ... you have a perfect heart because that is perfectly true).
He said he was going to save the finishing touches, the little tassels, and the basket, for when she could supervise. Pretty sweet.
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