Jan
4
Remembering Dad on Father’s Day
Filed Under Writing
I wrote this in either 2002 or 2003, when I was working for The Star-Herald newspaper in Presque Isle, Maine. My periodic column was called “Musings.”
This Sunday, June 15, fathers everywhere will receive breakfast in bed, golf balls, bad ties, sports videos and cards ranging from side-splitting funny to tear-jerker sweet from their spouses and children. Yep … it’s Father’s Day.
I’m planning on sending my father (he’s in Connecticut so this won’t ruin the surprise) a wine book that will allow him to make notes on what varieties and brands he likes, doesn’t like, and what foods they best complement. But I still don’t have a card picked out.
You see, my father is not an emotive man. I’ve never seen him cry or belly-laugh, although he has this great smirk and chuckle. I have seen him get mad - I get my impatience from him. Most of the time though, he’s pretty stoic.
So a mushy card that goes on and on about how I’m Daddy’s Little Girl, or some other sappy stuff, is not for me and my Dad. No, I need a card that somehow acknowledges …
- How he let me play in his workshop when I was a kid. I had my own hammer and screwdriver - in their very old holding places - which I used to make whatever my imagination led me to build. It was never anything useful, but Dad showed me how to hammer straight, how to use a vise, and how to be safe. (This coming from the man who almost lost several fingers on his table saw, but hey, he was looking out for me.)
- How he did his best to comfort me as my guinea pig, Charlie, lay dying in his cage when I was in the fourth-grade. Mom was out for the day, but God bless Dad, he really did try. I sat on his lap and cried while he patted me on the back. He later helped me build and paint a little cross that I erected over Charlie’s grave in the violet garden.
- How he (and Mom) always expected excellence from me, and acknowledged my academic and professional achievements. “Very good,” are two words I will always treasure coming from my Dad.
- How he took me, my brother and sister fishing when we vacationed on Silver Lake in New Hampshire. He never seemed to get tired of putting a worm on my hook, or practically gutting the perch I caught because they swallowed the hook every time. Our boat would always be trailed by a parade of dead fish when I was on the water.
- How he dutifully said “very nice” when I paraded out my new fashions each fall.
- How he piled up the leaves for us each fall so we could play in them without strewing them all over the yard again.
- How he shoveled a path for our cat, Tufts, so he (the cat) could “do his business” behind the shed without having to wade through the snow. I know that doesn’t have anything to do with me directly, but it’s a great story and so telling about his (Dad’s, not Tufts’) character.
- How he has looked out for my car, and tried to teach me to do the same. He showed me how to check and add all the essential fluids. This might seem like a “guy thing,” but I realize it’s because he wants to be sure I’m safe on the road.
- How he reads my articles in The Star-Herald and asks about the moose and deer hunts and the potato harvest.
- How he wasn’t offended when I named my cat, George, after him. Dad now asks how “his” cat is doing.
- And finally, how he helped instill a desire for knowledge in me and my brother and sister. He modeled reading the newspaper and news magazines. Every morning when I was in high school, we would sit across the kitchen table from each other, eating our cereal and reading the Hartford Courant. We still repeat the exercise when I’m home for a visit.
For this and so much more, thanks Dad. Happy Father’s Day.
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