My Dad has been gone since 85, and i still miss him. He was a very special father, and person. I've always told everybody, I was raised right. Was taught to do ur work, pay ur bills, then play. That play was usually a family thing. He saw to it that we learned all the old family games, Red Rover, Drop the Hankerchef, Daddy May I,3 that comes to mind. Also, horseshoes, washers, hide and seek (in the dark). All the domino, card games. Always had the neighbor kids around too. I remember one time during the winter, we were all around the kitchen table playing a very serious game of jacks!!! There were about 12 differnet levels to get thru. There was always a lot of whooping and hollering too. Mom joined in most of the time, too. One time, we had been called for supper 2 or 3 times, and had ignored it til we saw Dad coming. But,,he forgot to duck when he walked under a big pipe coming down to the creek to get us, so while he's stumbling around, holding his head, we ran real fast by him. Guess he forget what he was doing, because we didn't get into trouble that time. He'd run us all off, tho, when he'd get out his steel guitar and start playing that with his amp turned up. Don't think he ever got the hang of it, but not for lack of trying. lololol One time at a chili cook off, he won the moseying contest. Bro in law had a band, and Dad would always request Waltz Across Texas, and would wait and wait. But he wouldn't play it til late, because he knew Dad would leave after that. He'd keep him there as long as he could. He taught me carpentry, plumbing, electrical. I think he liked me being such a tom boy, and i had to compete with 2 bros, and the neighbor boys. And i did. Of course, that ended when i was about 12 or 13. Even now, i can do most of my repair work around the house. Then i married someone who worked on cars, so i learned a lot of that too. Well, the older models.
Ok, back to my Dad. I left my 5 yr old son with him one afternoon, and he sent him off to the bedroom to take a nap. When he went in a few minutes later, he saw his glycerin pills all over the floor and my son was still spitting. Scared my Dad to death, and about that time, my sis stopped by, and took him up to the hospital. The doc told her they wouldn't hurt him, might make him have a bad head ache, so she took him back to Dad. Later, here he comes into the living room really crying, saying his head hurt real bad. Scared Dad all over again. He said, He didn't tell me he had bumped his head on the door!! This same son got mad at Dad one time, and went out and pulled up all the onions in the garden Dad had just planted. Yep, u guessed it, he made him go back and plant all of them back. All the grandkids adored him too. He loved to tell them all these scary stories, about bed time, and Mom would get home from her shift at the hospital, and find all the kids sleeping on the bed, too scared to go to sleep on their pallets. They loved it tho.
OK yall, today has been my tribute to my Dad. Hope u enjoyed my memories as much as i did.
