Father's Day

Though I feel Father's Day is a bit of a sham, I want to honor my dad. He passed away back in December of 1998. It's not until someone is gone that you really realize how much they meant to you. My dad was about 40 when I was born. I'm 41 now and have a daughter ready to start college, so the dynamics of our relationship were a bit different. My dad was from Oak Park, Chicago and grew up in a very different world. I feel bad that we really never knew a whole lot about my dad's past. He moved out to San Francisco while working for United Airlines in the 50's. There he joined the LDS Church, which ostracized him from his family. 

My dad loved to work on cars, especially the stupid Opal Cadet, which, I swear, we were lifting the engine out of, from a jimmy-rigged contraption looped over the rafters in the garage, every summer! My dad was always very entrepreneurial, trying to come up with some new business or idea. He actually had a prototype of the mask thing that's used at the dentist's offices for getting the nitrous oxide. A wee bit of funding and he could have made it big!

My dad worked different jobs to keep us going. 

I think the one thing that is impressive is that my mom got spinal militis back in 1979 and my dad stuck with her and took care of her until he died.

One last memory is my dad telling jokes, usually bad ones, but you'd be laughing so hard because he was laughing and couldn't get them out. 

I miss him and would love to ask him questions about life and where I am at now. I would love to have had him at my graduation last year and at my daughter's graduation. I would love to talk to him about his family history, about my grandfather, about living in Washington DC. Well, my dad wasn't perfect or the Best at one thing, but he set a great example and I am partly what I am because of his mundane but hard working existence.