Collecting Dust

Growing up, I can remember walking out barefooted to my dad's garage. Always welcomed with a faint smell of Bondo and chewing tobacco. I remember being mesmerized at how he could change a piece of metal into something so beautiful. How we would go to swap meets, picking up random missing pieces to come back and put everything together like a puzzle, fitting perfectly. Every now and then, he'd call for me to come sit in the driver's seat and pump the brake pedals of a car he was working on. You see, he worked full time for the Conservation Department and then would come home and work in his garage fixing, cars of friends and family and any spare moment between those two, he'd tinker with restoring his old cars.

He raised me to be able to spot a '69 Camaro or an old Nova from a distant horizon. He also raised the hood of my first car and quizzed me on each part under the hood, teaching me how to change a tire and oil before taking my driving test.

Today, I went down to spend the day with my mom and dad, with no intention other than soaking up my time with them. I was walking in from taking pictures, when my dad stopped me,"Sis? That thing work good? Think you could take some pictures of my hot rod?". After telling him that I'd love to do this for him, he asked if I could somehow make the dust seem invisible in the pictures since he hadn't had time to clean them up.

Isn't it amazing how life lessons tend to hit at the most unexpected moments? In that moment, I realized dust made me feel at home. Dust. Dust usually collects when life gets busy........while we're making memories. Each season of life is a little dusty. Bringing home a new baby....snuggling, feeding, sleep deprivation....dust collecting. Before long those sleepless nights turn into homework and sport practices.....all the while dust collects. This season in my mom and dad's life is a rough one, as we learn how to navigate through some not so great medical diagnoses.....so as the dust collects, it made me think that it's a reminder we're busy making memories and collecting dust.

Live Big.....and Collect Dust,

Roxy