I
t was the holiday season, with the “big three”- Halloween, Thanksgiving and Christmas – just ahead. My father was battling cancer at that time; he was very ill. Afraid that he wouldn’t be around for Christmas, I wanted to make that year extra special. I thought the perfect gift was a grandfather clock, handbuilt by me. It was one of the things he had always wanted but could never afford. Although I had not built anything of that complexity, I felt it would not only make my dad proud of me, but it would give him something from me that he could treasure.
I purchased a magnificent self-assembly kit and immediately devoted my time to the overwhelming task of putting to together.
Every day after work I went to my brother’s house to secretly work on the clock. Three hours a day, six days a week I labored all alone, trying to figure out those complicated instructions. As it started to take form, the anticipation and internal excitement were almost too much to bear. I was really proud and couldn’t help visualizing how surprised, appreciative and amazed my dad would surely be when he unwrapped the masterpiece. On October 10, I finally finished the clock and wrapped it up with a big red bow, ready to be delivered in a couple of months on Christmas Eve. The next morning I left on a trip to Washington.
Two days later at 7:00 A.M., the phone rang in my hotel room. It was my brother. “Dad just died,” he cried.
That was a sad and brutal Christmas for me. Mom had a gorgeous Christmas tree, there were gifts galore. And there in the corner of my mother’s living room stood the tall, solid oak grandfather clock that I had spent 63 hours building. But there was no Dad! The presents meant nothing and the clock meant nothing in comparison to the loss of my dad.
Not a day goes by that I don’t regret the time I spent on that clock, now knowing that I should have spent those final, most sacred hours – all 63 of them – at my father’s side. What a fool I was to think a “thing” would make him happy. Things don’t make people happy. Time spent together with loved ones does!