Father’s Day has come and gone for another year. It was yet another day of nothing happening in camp. Taylor insisted she wanted to make supper for her dad so that’s what she did. She decided it was going to be BBQ meatballs, mashed potatoes and corn on the cob. This would have to be one of Jim’s favorite meals – except for roast beef.
I called my dad to wish him a Happy Father’s Day. He told me he read my blog every day so I know he’ll see this and what I have to say.
A daughter’s relationship is a whole lot different with her dad than it is with her mom. I can see this with our daughters. No matter how much more it seems the mom does for her children and the amount of time that’s spent with them, it’s the love of a dad that really takes on a whole different feeling. I know I worshipped my Dad while growing up. I can see it’s the same with our girls, too.
It seems like I really struggle with trying to remember how things happened or what occurred way back when I was a kid. But, if I think hard enough and long enough, I can remember things that happened and it always seems like its stuff that happened with my Dad.
A few of my earliest memories go something like this:
I can remember following Dad through snow in a field or tall grass hunting rabbits. I recall going to my Great Grandparents house in Lebanon, KS and as soon as we’d get there, Dad and Grandpa would load up the greyhound dogs and they’d go coyote hunting. I remember sitting in my Grandpa’s garage wishing Dad and Grandpa would just hurry up and finish what they were doing so we could do something other than work on cars. I remember being in a garage with Dad and my brother, Mark, when Mark took a drink out of the Mountain Dew bottle and realized it was gasoline rather than pop. I remember all the times Dad took us camping and fishing. I remember Dad teaching me how to drive a motorcycle. I remember hitting my head hard enough on the corner of a dresser that it popped open. Mom was sure we would have to go to the hospital for stitches. I locked myself in my room. It was Dad that I allowed in my room to look at the cut. I can remember to this day how he cleaned it up and checked to make sure it wasn’t going to need stitches. I remember coming home with a note from school and asking dad, “what’s a menstrual cycle?” His comment was I should probably talk to mom about that one. I remember following Dad and my brothers through the pastures when it was deer hunting season – just praying they wouldn’t see one while I was with them. It was Dad who taught me how to tie a fishhook on a line, bait the hook with a worm and even how to clean a fish after I caught it. At one time, I could clean a fish as fast as any of the rest of them. Could I do it now? I doubt it. It was Dad that sat on the couch with me when I came home one night to tell my folks that Jim and I were getting married. It meant the world to me that he sat there asking questions about our dreams and future. It was my Dad that walked me down the aisle the day I got married.
Dad had a crazy work schedule while we were growing up. He worked at the airbase in Omaha and worked different shifts. He never worked the same shift for very long. When he was sleeping during the day, we learned we had better TRY to be quiet. Dad loved his yard. He was constantly mowing, fertilizing or reseeding an area that had taken abuse – probably due to us kids. Dad can fix or build ANYTHING! He is an engineer and knows how to make things work – just never got paid for his knowledge. I think I may have gotten a little bit of that from him. He got it from his dad. Dad’s persistent and stubborn – I KNOW I got that from him!
Although life sometimes throws curve balls and things change, my love for you, Dad, never will. I don’t get to see you nearly as often as I wish but I have learned to accept things that I cannot change. No one can take away the memories I have and cherish of you while growing up. I know all these happenings have made me who I am today and for that, I thank you! You may not have known then how much the things you did or said would mean to me today. I love you…Happy Father’s Day!
From left to right – My little brother, Matt, Me (the oldest), Dad, my middle brother, Mark.