Daddy's Aftershave

This morning as I stood in front of my  bathroom mirror looking at the scruff scruff on my face. I began to think about my father and how as a child, I would watch him shave in front the bathroom mirror.  I remember it so vividly. He would run his water in the sink, wet his face with a cloth and proceed to lather his face with his shaving cream brush. I was so fascinated by that brush. I watched him as he carefully took his razor, and would go up and down against his face until he had gotten all the excess scruff off. He was so quiet and did it so meticulously. It never took him long and when he was finished, he would take his after shave and rub it all over his face. That was my favorite part of his shaving ritual. I loved the smell of that fragrance, that was Daddy's smell. After he was all done, he would  hand me his  razor, and his shaving cream brush. I would put back into the bathroom drawer as I did every time. And that would be that.

Some time as passed since those days. Daddy is gone now. As Daddy grew sicker, he wasn't able to shave or do much of anything for himself. So I, along with my other brothers would shave daddy when he needed it. I won't forget the last time I shaved him. It was in mid November. I was over at the house visiting and he said to me. Joey you think you got time to shave me?  "yeah daddy" I replied.  I got all of his shaving supplies out and began to wet his face with warm water. I got his shaving cream, brushed a good lather on his face, and began to shave his face with his razor. I carefully shaved him, as I had watched him do so many times as a boy. It didn't take very long. When I was finished, I took out his aftershave, rubbed a generous amount on my hands and rubbed it all over his face. I knew it burned him but he never showed it. Tough as nails he was. After I was all done I took the mirror and held it in front of his face and asked him, is that alright? He replied yeah. And that was that.

It had never occurred to me that, that would be the last time I would ever shave my father. I cherish those memories of Daddy and watching him shave. So this morning I ran warm water in the sink and proceeded to shave just like daddy did. I use the same shaving cream and aftershave as he did. Actually the shave cream that I have is his. There isn't much more left though. After I finished shaving, I splashed aftershave over my face. I  hollered, screamed and acted overly dramatic...as I always do. :) How daddy did not flinch or scream when he put that aftershave on still puzzles me to this day. I looked at myself in the mirror and could smell daddy all in the bathroom. It was as if he was right there in the bathroom with me. Tears ran down my cheek as I walked out of the bathroom smelling like Daddy. And that was that.