Dad's Birthday

The day after Christmas is dad's birthday.  He turned 70 this year, a big birthday!  He always enjoys a walk, especially at the Al Foster trail.  We had a little window when everyone was available in between basketball practice and a doctor's appointment for Garrett.  I thought we would have plenty of time.  Dad suggested walking all the way to the river to throw rocks in.  We were like ok, it's his birthday.  We didn't realize how much farther that was to walk.  The farther we walked the more we were looking at our watches.  We knew we needed to head back so we could make it to Garrett's doctor's appointment on time.  We felt bad.  We eventually said we were going to need to turn back because we were cutting it close.  Our family had to walk quickly back and leave.  We ended up walking almost 4.5 miles.  Much more then we were all anticipating.  We weren't really dressed for walking that far.  We barely made it home to drop off Lucy and Nolan and get to Garrett's doctor's appointment.  I felt bad the way we had to leave.  I didn't understand what he was hoping for in his walk.  I hoped we didn't come across rude, but we had to make the doctor's appointment, I had made it months ago.  I am sure dad had a nice time walking.  Sometimes it is hard to read dad and the way he is feeling.  I know the holidays are hard for him.  Especially the Christmas holiday.  There are a lot of milestones within a few weeks of each other.  The day mom passed, Christmas, his birthday and then their wedding anniversary.  All close together.  I am glad we were able to do something with him, even if it was for a short time.