Mono Monday: Fun

One of the most poignant moments after my Dad passed away happened when I was sorting through the wardrobe he used in the room where I stay in Tiptree.  I found a carrier bag from a local shop which contained a mini-meccano set, two toy cars and a colouring-in poster with crayons.  The receipt in the bag was dated 14th September 2014.  I knew exactly why Dad had bought them.

For many years he put gifts of toys, school supplies and hygiene items into a shoebox which he had covered with Christmas wrapping paper, and donated it to Operation Christmas Child to be sent to an unknown little boy halfway around the world.  This annual project is organised by the charity Samaritan's Purse for children from communities in need across Sub-Saharan Africa, Eastern Europe and Central Asia.  Even though by mid-September last year Dad was really in trouble with his health, and finding it difficult to walk very far without fighting for breath, he still began to gather items to go in his Christmas shoebox.  It must have been one of the last shopping trips Dad managed to go on before being diagnosed with asbestos-related lung cancer just a couple of weeks later and being admitted to hospital for palliative treatment.  He died late in the evening on the day before Christmas Eve.

Tomorrow would have been Dad's 91st birthday and, to honour it in a way which would have pleased him very much, I decided to add to the things he had already bought last year and make up the Christmas shoebox on his behalf.  Tomorrow will be one of those sad significant dates for Mum, our family and me to mark, when we will particularly miss him being here with us.  But I will take comfort in knowing that, even now he is gone, Dad is still finding a way to send a little box of fun across the world.