Things he did....

My dad is an interesting man in many ways. Last night I was reflecting on some of the fun things he did when I was just a kid.

*On Valentines day, he always took a red sheet of construction paper...made a BIG heart on it....and listed out all the things he loved about us. My favorite line was "I love how you keep your bedroom clean" That was far from the truth...but I took the hint!

*While I was in campfire, we had a "father/daughter" banquet every year. He wore this blue suit that I can always remember. We're not talking dark blue...but yes...baby blue. He always made jokes and made everyone laugh and was also great at winning Bingo every year.

*He played guitar and sang silly songs to me that he wrote. I think I get my sense of humor from him and definitely my musical side. There's this song that sticks in my head "Does a chicken have lips" and then it goes downhill from there. Every year when our families gather together, someone always has to break out with this song and everyone else joins in. It's pretty funny cause the song makes NO sense. We both love music...but as we've gotten older, our differences in music have changed quite a bit.
He also sang a song about some mountain and a dad and his daughter. I don't remember the name, but the tune is still in my head today.

*Every year, a few weeks before Christmas, he would go out and buy me the prettiest Christmas dress. You know...the frilly one with tons of lace and made me look like a million dollar princess. I never knew what I would get, but I always anticipated the Christmas dress. No other gift really mattered to me.

*He's a whistler. Everyday coming home...he would never say hello first. He would be whistling a happy tune as he walked through the door. My mom always said he did that so he wouldn't scare us and we would know it was him walking through the door. I knew he did it because he loved to just whistle. He did it everywhere we went.

*He's a great joke teller. Still to this day he loves a good joke. Can't say they are always "clean" jokes, but they are pretty funny. He loves a good story that will make others laugh.

*He always drove us around town at night. Around dusk, at least 3 nights a week, we would drive over to the tasty freeze on 11th street and get a chocolate dip cone. Then we would just drive around the city. Sometimes paying bills so he could save a stamp, but most of the time, just listening to the radio and looking at the sights. We never went farther than 51st street, but we spent hours in the car growing up.

*Vacations were always fun. Even if for a kid they were boring, he made them fun. They were always road trips with my brother and I constantly fighting about silly little things. Probably because we owned an ORANGE car!
I road my first upside down roller coaster with my dad and I remember his huge arm coming across my chest as he thought I was going to fall out! I was so little I came out of the seat. I remember that he would have never road anything like that, but I really wanted to and he wasn't going to let me down.

Memories like these are fun. I have many more as I sit here and think about it but the blog is long enough. Things change as life goes on so I think it's important to stop and remember the good times that you've experienced together. My dad won't be around forever, and at times, our relationship is rough. More than I would like it to be. But it's never changed my heart and how much I really love him. I may never hear those words from him, and he's not always been the best at saying it, but somewhere deep inside, I believe he does.