Monday, May 11, 2009

Dad

Today my Dad turned 70. It does not seem possible.

I had orginally planned to do this really nice tribute to my Dad with pictures and lots of nice things to say and some funny things to say. Then my youngest got the lamest assignment I have ever seen in my life that he need help with so Dad's tribute got put on the back burner for a bit. The economics assignment actually had to be sewn on a shirt and I will not let the men in my house touch my good sewing machine. If my hands get better one day, I want to be able to use my machine. I have been able to add pictures since I posted this on May 11th.

So here is a short tribute to my Dad and maybe if time is on my side this week I can come back and add pictures to this.

This picture was taken about 10 years ago at my Aunt's home in the summer.


My Dad and Mom had me when they were young, barely 22 to be exact. My Mom tells the story that my Dad could not even say the word pregnant with regards to my Mom's condition. She was "in the family way" or "they had a loaf in the oven". My Dad was very protective of me from day one and still is or tries to be even though I am here and he is in Yankeeland.


My Dad did not graduate from high school but he made sure that we all knew how important an education was and he pushed us to do our best. Sometimes to the point that I wanted to scream because school was not easy for me and honestly there were times when I did scream "I am doing my best" and storm off down the hall. His favorite thing to do that I can laugh about now but oh I hated it at the time was to wait until I was almost to my room and he would call me back I was seething but I went. I would walk up to him and in my best scowl say "What?" He would wait and then with a totally serious face ask me "So how far would you have been if I hadn't called you back here?" I would try to stay mad it at him but in the end I laughed as I sputtered under my breath and went back down the hall.

Watching my Dad with his grandchildren is one of the biggest joys I have. He adores them even more than he adores my sister, brother and I. When he talks about his grandchildren you can hear his pride and his delight in all that they do. The pictures that would go here are many. The picture of my Dad and son number one swinging and laughing in our backyard. My Dad and son number two giving each other nuzzles. My Dad holding NP Diva as a baby with more than one party hat perched on his head.

My Dad is 70 and he is starting to show his age. I think this may be more shocking for me than for my brother and sister because I get to see him once a year. In my minds eye my Dad isn't a day over 50 yet I know that can not be right because I am closer to 50 than he is. So when I see him and he is not as young as I remember him it shocks me and unsettles me just a little.

I have wonderful pictures of my Dad most if not all of which were taken before I had or there even were digital camaras. So I will come back and add those.

I will close with this story of my Dad. My best friend and I wanted to go shopping and my Dad was heading to Wards to pick something up from the catalog department we wanted to go with him. He told us no because he did not want to wait for us he was only going to pick up one item. We insisted on going with him and he informed us that if we went and we made him wait he would put a banana peel on his head like a hat. Of course we did not believe he would do it so we got in the truck and went with him. Well you guessed it he ended up waiting for us and when we met him on the loading dock he was standing their grinning from ear to ear with the peel perched atop his head. We were young teens and we were mortified. Looking back I should have known he would do it. That is one thing about my Dad if he says he will do something he will do it.

I could not find all of the pictues I talked about because of course since I am looking for them I can not find them. I am adding some that I really do like. They are of my Dad and son number one, my Dad with my Mom, my Dad being funny in his hat before my wedding, he did not wear it to the church and my Mom and Dad with me when I graduated from college finally in 2005.



So to my Dad who will see this when my Aunt or my sister show it to him I say happy 70th Dad and we love you forever yes we do!

9 comments:

HeidiTri's said...

Great tribute! I never heard the banana peel story.
But oh man.. you're in for it because you told his age!!! If you were here, you'd get "The look" for that!

Felicia said...

ahahaha! That is a funny story!!!

PennyCandy said...

I have other funny stories but it was late last night so I did not get them all in. I really want to put the pictures in after dinner. First I have to find them and then scan them and then put them in.

HeidiTri's said...

I love the pictures you added so far!

TC said...

Where exactly is Yankeeland? *ER*

Hope he had a wonderful birthday!

PennyCandy said...

TC in my case Yankeeland is upstate NY. My parents, sister and brother with their families still live up that way.

Unknown said...

What A great tribute!!!
Love The "old" Pictures.
I love The story You told Ron&I about ALLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL that firewood your dad has.. we still laugh about that!!
Tell Them We said Hello!

Bone said...

That was a wonderful tribute, PennyCandy.

I think parents always seem the same age to us for many years, then one day you wake up and it's like they've aged twenty years in a day.

Oh, and my Mom is all about the grandchild now. Forget my sister and I. We were just a pawn in her plan to have grandkids :)

PennyCandy said...

Yeah Bone once a grandkid arrives the kids take a back seat a very back seat. Wait until the grand gets older your Mom will let him do things she would have strung you up for. My Dad actually starts the food fights now.