Sorry this is a day late - my "editor" couldn't get to it till this morning!
I thought I would do something today similar to what I did for Mother's Day and post some reminiscences about my Dad and the things we used to do together...
I never realized until too late that I had my Dad wrapped around my little finger! Oh, what did I miss out on! When I was 9 or 10 years old I had no idea that he would have bent over backwards for me if I had asked him to. It wasn't until later, when I was a young adult, that I realized this... Ah, well, it's probably better that I didn't know it back then!
I remember a lot of fun times - and some not so fun - with my dad.
When I was little, we had a HUGE garden - I mean HUGE! My parents bought a couple acres just past our neighbor's house, and we had something akin to a truck patch garden there for several years. My mother canned and froze vegetables and fruit every summer and fall. (To this day the smell of tomato sauce cooking makes me think it's time to go back to school.) Anyway, as the child of the house (my brother had an outside job by this time - lucky duck!), I was the weeding assistant. And, oh, the weeds that can grow in a 1/2-acre garden! It was a never-ending task! One day, I was down at the garden with my parents, weeding, when I stumbled across a yellowjacket nest (nasty, nasty things, yellowjackets). Before I knew it, I had been stung several times, and I remember beginning to cry. My Dad came to my rescue, getting stung several times himself in the process. Then he picked me up and carried me all the way back up the road to the house. If that's not love, what is? (my dad would die of embarrassment, if he knew I'd said that!)
We also had a smaller garden out beside the house, and I remember helping my Dad plant potatoes there. He had a very peculiar instrument made especially for planting potatoes. I can't even begin to describe it - it's something you have to see. (It's similar to a posthole digger, but with a chute that you drop the seed-potato chunks down.)
When I was older, my Dad had a very nice cruising motorcycle. Sometimes on Sunday afternoons, he would take me with him on a nice, relaxing ride. (If Mom didn't want to go, that is. She always got first dibs.)
He was also great about going on bicycle rides. He and I would sometimes ride our bikes all the way into town - it was about 5 miles away, and it was not a straight or flat road! Our reward would be to stop at Dairy Queen when we finally made it and have some ice cream. Mom would show up several minutes later with the pickup truck, and we would put our bikes in the back and have a much less strenuous ride back home! (and this was in the days before cell phones, so Mom would just have to guess at how long it would take us to get there)
Sometimes he even saved me from housework! Mom would be wanting me to help her do dishes or cook or some other inside work, and Dad would say he needed my help outside (usually after I asked him if he could use my help... OK, after I pleaded with him to let me help). I would so much have rather been outside than inside in those days!
Maybe I still have my Dad wrapped around my finger - I don't know. But these days I feel a stronger desire to help him (and Mom) than to get my own way. That's what happens when you grow up, I guess. I'm very thankful that both of my parents are still living, and I pray that they live long enough to enjoy their grandchild. I hope Dad can still find the strength to do some of those fun things with our son that he used to do with me.
I know that Brian will make a great father, and I know it must be a scary prospect for him sometimes. To think that there is this little life depending on you now (not that they don't depend on moms, too), and that you're now the head of a family not just the leader of a couple. But I know that he'll do the best he can with God's help, and I look forward to the day when I can post of picture of him and our son having some "daddy time"!
Happy Father's Day!!!!
I thought I would do something today similar to what I did for Mother's Day and post some reminiscences about my Dad and the things we used to do together...
I never realized until too late that I had my Dad wrapped around my little finger! Oh, what did I miss out on! When I was 9 or 10 years old I had no idea that he would have bent over backwards for me if I had asked him to. It wasn't until later, when I was a young adult, that I realized this... Ah, well, it's probably better that I didn't know it back then!
I remember a lot of fun times - and some not so fun - with my dad.
When I was little, we had a HUGE garden - I mean HUGE! My parents bought a couple acres just past our neighbor's house, and we had something akin to a truck patch garden there for several years. My mother canned and froze vegetables and fruit every summer and fall. (To this day the smell of tomato sauce cooking makes me think it's time to go back to school.) Anyway, as the child of the house (my brother had an outside job by this time - lucky duck!), I was the weeding assistant. And, oh, the weeds that can grow in a 1/2-acre garden! It was a never-ending task! One day, I was down at the garden with my parents, weeding, when I stumbled across a yellowjacket nest (nasty, nasty things, yellowjackets). Before I knew it, I had been stung several times, and I remember beginning to cry. My Dad came to my rescue, getting stung several times himself in the process. Then he picked me up and carried me all the way back up the road to the house. If that's not love, what is? (my dad would die of embarrassment, if he knew I'd said that!)
We also had a smaller garden out beside the house, and I remember helping my Dad plant potatoes there. He had a very peculiar instrument made especially for planting potatoes. I can't even begin to describe it - it's something you have to see. (It's similar to a posthole digger, but with a chute that you drop the seed-potato chunks down.)
When I was older, my Dad had a very nice cruising motorcycle. Sometimes on Sunday afternoons, he would take me with him on a nice, relaxing ride. (If Mom didn't want to go, that is. She always got first dibs.)
He was also great about going on bicycle rides. He and I would sometimes ride our bikes all the way into town - it was about 5 miles away, and it was not a straight or flat road! Our reward would be to stop at Dairy Queen when we finally made it and have some ice cream. Mom would show up several minutes later with the pickup truck, and we would put our bikes in the back and have a much less strenuous ride back home! (and this was in the days before cell phones, so Mom would just have to guess at how long it would take us to get there)
Sometimes he even saved me from housework! Mom would be wanting me to help her do dishes or cook or some other inside work, and Dad would say he needed my help outside (usually after I asked him if he could use my help... OK, after I pleaded with him to let me help). I would so much have rather been outside than inside in those days!
Maybe I still have my Dad wrapped around my finger - I don't know. But these days I feel a stronger desire to help him (and Mom) than to get my own way. That's what happens when you grow up, I guess. I'm very thankful that both of my parents are still living, and I pray that they live long enough to enjoy their grandchild. I hope Dad can still find the strength to do some of those fun things with our son that he used to do with me.
I know that Brian will make a great father, and I know it must be a scary prospect for him sometimes. To think that there is this little life depending on you now (not that they don't depend on moms, too), and that you're now the head of a family not just the leader of a couple. But I know that he'll do the best he can with God's help, and I look forward to the day when I can post of picture of him and our son having some "daddy time"!
Happy Father's Day!!!!