Rituals

Every morning i get up. Yes, most people have this ritual too...and my mornings probably start out with similarities to any other persons' day. I trudge to the kettle and boil water for coffee and fix up my french press. I make breakfast as i wait for the coffee to brew and when i am satisfied that i don't need to wait any longer, I trudge to the couch and settle everything around me. Once everything is in it's place, the first sip of goodness has been had, I turn on my laptop and wait for it to boot. Then comes the actual ritual. I check for email. It's not because I am trying to keep up with corresponding or getting a head start on paying bills or managing my life. I am checking for a message from my Dad. And usually about 3 times a week, sometimes every morning I just sit there with my coffee and read a note from my Paps. It's not usually spectacular or even notably brilliant. But it's how I communicate with my Dad. This past week I realized that me and him have been 'talking' like this for about 10 years. No matter where he is in the world, no matter how far away, if he is around internet I will usually get either a generic email, family email, or even personal note from my Dad. This week he was away from the internet, visiting churches in a far away country, and my mornings were missing something. Even the generic 'read this article' emails were not there for my morning ritual. I got alittle bit sad.
But it made me think, about what it means to have a communicator like I do, for a Father. I don't write as often as he does. There have been times I have been silent, or exaggerated, not to mention all the venting emails of death i have written. I have been frustrated sometimes by thinking that we aren't cliquing. That he doesn't understand how important all the problems that I am writing about really are. That he doesn't understand me. And I can make him cry so easily when I am careless with my words, cause I know he worries for me always...
He writes, and writes and writes and writes...and when he can't write or is especially busy, I realize how much i take for granted and how truly special it is that even though we aren't in the same time zone we can still be on the same page. Whether he understands me or not, he writes...he's my Dad, and that's our language. Knowing I am in his daily routine, comforts me. So this is to commemorate 10 or so years of Father daughter communication...or mostly Father communication...Dad, thanks so much for being a ritual person, I like this ritual and hope we keep it up...