All my life he's been there
A constant presence
In the life of a little country girl
When I was small
And constantly wore dresses
He'd take me on his knee
And dry my tears
On the sleeve of his old plaid shirt
Then he'd settle me beside him
In the big comfy arm chair
And tell me stories about ,br> The days of old
Stories of the army
And his adventures in WWII
Stories about my daddy
And the trouble he got into
We'd sit for hours
Him talking and me listening
Then he'd send me on my way
With a drink of Coffee or Diet Pepsi
As I grew older
I valued his stories more
I wore jeans and old t-shirts
With out of date logos on the front
But still he could take away my tears
With just a few words
He told me of his pet monkey
And the company dog
He told me of the hunting trips
When my daddy was young
He told me of my daddy's friends
And how he met my mom
And how much trouble I was when I was small
He'd growl at the boys
For sneaking frogs in my pocket
Then he'd tug on the gallousus
Of his old overalls
And say how one day
I'd be big enough to whup them all
Then he'd drink his Diet Pepsi
And settle back in his chair
To watch re-runs of the Beverly Hillbillies
When he got sick
And they had to send him away
To the nursing home in town
I cried for days
I'd go sit by his bed whenever I could
To tell his own stories back to him
They brought both of us comfort
In the memories of hours spent
In that chair in the living room
Then life got busy
And I didn't go as much
I hit the age of the teenager
And I rarely went at all
Now as we wait
For the heartwrenching phone call
I wish I had known what I do now
I've lost the memories I once cherished so
And wish desperatly for time to run backwards
So that I may retrieve them
As that's impossible I must content myself
With sitting for hours in his chair
Trying to remember
So that I may tell them back to him
This one last time
And be the one to dry his tears.