Gifted

My Dad was gifted. He was a fine friend who kept his pals for a lifetime. He was a talented tennis player - the Hawaii state tennis champion in his 70s. An amusing raconteur, he could tell a joke or a story with great panache and an irresistible twinkle - we were often in stitches at the dinner table. He was a beloved leader, admired by most who served with him. He was a voracious reader, devouring newspapers, news and sports magazines, and best sellers at a terrific rate. He was also a sweet and loving soul who couldn't bring himself to spank me even back when spanking was not considered child abuse and even when I richly deserved it. He was also impossible to buy presents for.

Because he wore Navy uniforms to work every day, he didn't need much in the way of new clothes. Like many fathers, there wasn't much he wanted or needed - one push mower sufficed and he could use only so many chamois cloths for washing the car. To make matters worse, he often went out a week before his birthday to buy the very book I was planning to give him. Or purchase new tennis gear just before Christmas.

That's why I gave him this little ice cream maker for Christmas one year. Since he never cooked anything but scrambled eggs and frozen veggies, I knew he would never use it, but he loved ice cream and, hey, I was desperate. He unwrapped it with excitement (he never lost his boyishness), then looked over at me with a quizzical expression. Ice cream maker? Well, thank you, honey - it's the thought that counts.

I found it tucked 'way back in a kitchen cabinet years later, when we were closing his house after his death. For some reason, it seemed important to keep it. I added it to the sad box of artifacts from his life that I was saving and shipped it home to be unpacked and squirreled away there.

I hadn't thought of it in years when I came across it while looking for something else entirely. I brought it out, washed it thoroughly and put the core into my little freezer. I'm going to try making some ice cream in his memory. Coffee ice cream, his favorite.