Quick Thoughts About your Dad. Day 533.

Going through my blog post list, I realize I will not be able to write about each item I have listed. Of course, there are many about Dad, and because I want to talk about them all, I will shorten each one and list them out instead of dedicating a separate post for each. Here you go:

• Dad had scars on each cheek. They were very faint and mostly visible in the early morning when he was still waking up. He was a large baby so the doctor used obstetrical forceps to assist with his delivery. Click HERE to see how they use them. He ended up with scars from the procedure that lasted his lifetime.
• One time, Tyler upped the difficulty on the video game he and Dad were playing. Dad did well and when Tyler congratulated him for being able to play at a tougher setting, Dad became upset because he was duped. It still tickles Tyler.
• Dad was arrested once for siphoning gas from a school bus. He and his friends had no money for gas so their brilliant idea was to steal some. They were caught and arrested. He called Poppie to bail him out of jail and Poppie said he had to spend the night. He called him again the next morning and Poppie said, “As soon as I am finished with my coffee and read the paper I will come get you.” Dad never got in trouble again after that day. Knowing him as I do, I find it difficult to believe it was his idea.
• Dad knew all the words to “Ice Ice Baby” by Vanilla Ice by heart. I have video somewhere.
• He loved the rock band, Rush.
• Dad’s favorite food was cheeseburgers.
• Maybe our greatest contention was tobacco use. He struggled with it. When we first met, we both smoked, but as time went on and we grew to understand the danger of it, we both quit. Well, I thought we both quit. I did anyway. He used to come home smelling like smoke, not always, but sometimes. He would leave out receipts with cigarette purchases on them. He left a can of dip on the back bumper of his 1987 Mazda RX7. One time, I was at the fire department looking through a training photo album. What did I see? Your sweet pops with his cheek all stretched out because his mouth was full of dip. I wish I didn’t give him a hard time about it now, of course.
• Without vocally declaring it because we didn’t talk enough about politics and social issues back then, Dad was a feminist. He was my greatest supporter when I became curious about joining the active side of the fire department. He believed women deserved equal pay and opportunity. Also, he didn’t consider himself the holier-than-though head of household who held the wallet and set the rules. He was quite evolved considering his peers at the time, and I was proud of that.
• He loved animals. He was sweet to them, too. Don’t get me wrong, he teased them sometimes, just like he did you all. They knew who to go to. Annie, especially, loved her pops.
• He loved his coffee extra sweet and like me, he had to have it every day.
• He was a huge fan of Spam and Vienna Sausages. It’s the one thing I wouldn’t prepare for him. Just the smell of the Vienna Sausages made me feel ill. He would fry up the Spam early in the morning before work and put it on white bread with mayonnaise. I would light candles after he left.
• We used to buy that American cheese that is wrapped in plastic. It’s all we could afford. When I made his lunch for work, once in awhile I would leave the wrapper on the cheese as a joke. I remember one day in particular, he came home with a smirk on his face. At that time, I forgot all about it but when I remembered, we both laughed until nighttime.

Gosh, this doesn’t even tap into all of the goods about Dad. I will do this again one day, maybe before the end of this blog.