Forgive Me Father For I Have Loved Read Online Free PDF

nephew called out as he pivoted around in his chair, his cheeks stuffed full of food and a look of disgust on his small, peach shaped face. “It’s as hard as a rock!”
    Ahhhh, the honesty of innocence of babes.
    A brief silence ensued when a whisper would have sounded like a scream, then, as if a light switch were turned on, the bustling laughter resumed, filling the dining room. Meanwhile, his mother stood silent in the dining room doorway, looking both embarrassed and amused.
    “Jacob, Grandma did the best she could! I overcooked the roast tonight,” she offered as people kept eating and passing plates filled with rolls and peas. The laughter soon died down, replaced by new conversations regarding sports and local gossip.
    “Everything is delicious, Mom,” Dane offered, causing her to point a knobby finger at him and roll her heavily hooded blue eyes. He burst out laughing, causing an avalanche of laughter once again.
    “You can’t lie with a straight face, you never could,” she chastised as she disappeared into the kitchen.
    “So,” his father began from his seat next to Dane. He shot his son a glance out the corner of his hazel eye as he carefully scooped up a spoonful of chopped baby carrots and popped them in his mouth. “How has everything been going? Haven’t spoken to you in a couple of days,” he said around a mouth full of food.
    “Great, things are going really well. One of the guys in seminary class just got ordained by Bishop Lourdes. Really great fella, I know he’ll do well. I’m heading up the youth ministries this month, and we painted a mural on Jackson Street, near the YMCA. We are doing another one next week, and a fund raiser for the new recreational center.”
    His father smiled and nodded as he smeared a pat of warm butter on his roll.
    “Keepin’ the kids out of trouble, proactive. I like it.”
    He glanced up at the large oil painting of his grandfather, hanging smack dab in the middle of the wall. The elaborate gold frame caught the reflection of the low hanging chandelier, the one he’d hung for his parents a few years earlier. He quickly turned away from the sight.
    “Oh, guess who is in town? Josh.” Dane couldn’t curb his enthusiasm as he grabbed his gold linen napkin off of his lap and used it to pat the side of his mouth clean. “We’re going to have dinner together before he heads out again to Sacramento. He is back home on business.”
    “Well, you tell him to stop by here before he leaves, if he has time. Hell, he better make time! Time flies.” His father stabbed a dollop of mashed potatoes with his spoon and the extra dark brown beef gravy trickled down the sides of the lumpy mound. “It seems like just yesterday, you two were out in the backyard, horsin’ around with your brothers and those other guys. Now, he is some fancy medical sales director and you’re a priest! Making me feel old!” He laughed.
    Dane looked into the older man’s face, the chewing mouth, the red cheeks, as the lovely sounds of merriment boomed through the room. Then he took another survey of the table, watching everyone talk, eat and drink. Meanwhile, Heidi, the senior Golden Retriever, made her begging rounds as she shamelessly solicited everyone who dared to cast her a glance for a morsel. Few could resist her soulful eyes.
    “You’re only as old as you feel, Dad, and to me,” Dane raised a brow, “you look great.”
    His father grinned and coughed into his napkin, then glared at his son with obvious suspicion. “You are actually not being a smart ass! It must be the apocalypse!”
    Dane burst out laughing and lightly tapped the table with his fingertips as he caught a glimpse of his sister wiping crumbs away from her daughter’s mouth.
    “No, seriously, I hope I look good as you when I turn one hundred.”
    They shared a brief pause then both burst out laughing. His father shook his finger at him.
    “I knew it. I knew there was a punch line coming, Mr. Funny