Dad (yes, I know it isn't a snappy title...give me a break...I haven't written a real post with actual words in a while!)

It's been a difficult week for many of us. Many of us could use a smile. I aim to please.

I had a picture of the flag at half mast on my blog today. A symbol of our country in mourning. It's time to move on. SO...here I go.

My dad.

My dad is a pretty neat guy.( Many of you may have heard me refer to my mother--'nough said about that), but except for the Pizza dinner, I don't think I've ever referred to my dad.

First the facts. My dad has not had an easy life. He gave up a probable career in professional football to find a "practical" job, marry his high school sweetheart, and have children. They had 4 kids, each about 4 years apart. (that's about 18 years straight of having at least one teenager in the house). He worked shift work at the same job for 32 years. After work he came home to do laundry, grocery shop and do pretty much all the stuff the stay at home mom would normally do if she wasn't "mentally unstable", (being nice).

In high school (early 1950's), he was the Quarterback for his school's football team. As Freshmen, He and his roommate played on the varsity team---something that had never happened in the school's history. He was named All City, All Central, All Group, All State, All Southern and All American. He broke records and held them for decades. He was scouted out by most colleges east of the Mississippi. But, most of all, He was definitely a family man, so in order to stay close to his parents and wife-to-be, he chose Va Tech.

While at Tech he broke more records, He was unstoppable.

He was scouted out by the Greenbay Packers and The Washington Redskins. He was a legend in his time. Even today, when people hear my maiden name, they often ask if I am related to him. And I am always proud to answer.

In 1994 he was inducted into the Virginia High School Hall of Fame.

Anyway, as I said earlier, he gave all that up for a "practical" job and to have a wife and family.



He is now in his 70's. All of his children love him completely. As a matter of fact, I've never met anyone in my life who has ever said a negative thing about him.

He did have a difficult time in school. Although undiagnosed at the time, he had/has dyslexia. (However, as I have mentioned before, he doesn't believe in ADHD...it's just laziness)

oh, and he IS country! He has always reminded me of Andy Taylor from the Andy Griffith Show. I think he resembles him a little and he also had that same hair cut...including the little black tuft of hair on top. Even when he speaks, there is a definite Andy Taylor Twang.

Quite often my friends used to ask me to tell them my "Dad Stories".

Now before I go any further (or should I say farther...or perhaps father), PLEASE, PLEASE know that this is all said with complete love. However, if we can't laugh at ourselves (and I've proved I can do that quite regularly), our family and our friends.....well, things would get pretty boring.

I've actually had people ask me to tell this story more than once:
One year at Christmastime, my dad came to me and told me about the beautiful "african" he got for our mother for Christmas. I was probably in my 20's at the time, so I knew exactly what he was talking about, but couldn't resist egging him on. "An African?", I asked. He responded to me that it was a beautiful african and would look beautiful (actually he said "real nice" ) laying across the back of the sofa. Well, since it was a Christmas "african" I asked him what he was going to do with it the rest of the year.....I bet we were the only family in the neighborhood that kept an "african" in a box in the attic every year from January through November. Lucky for us, we had a different "african" to keep out during those months.

Then there was the time he was telling me a news story about the "bum" that was found in a pregnant woman's car. When I asked him what the "bum" was doing, he looked at me like I was crazy. He said it was just sitting there in the back seat of the car and then it blew up. Luckily the lady got out of the car in time. That could have been very messy.

When ever we went out for "take-out" dinner, it ranged in 2 categories. Pizza or "A Burger And All". Oh yeah, sometimes we also had "Captain D's And All. And where else to get "A Burger And All", than MAC Donald's.

When we had vegetables, we had Ve-Ge-Ta-Bles. Pronounced like that...emphasis on the Ve.
A salad wasn't complete without I-talian (Eye-Talian) dressing.
We never went out in the rain without an Umbrother.
ET and her family went on a trip to Ha-Why-Ya (fine, thank you).
Oh, and all of his daughter's had their "years" pierced. Yep each year....but not every year.

Can't you just see Andy Taylor talkin' to "Ant" Bee and Opie?
Everyone loved Andy Taylor. ( I'm not talking about the Obama Andy Taylor. I'm talking about the Good ol' Country boy, Andy Taylor)
Everyone loves my dad too.
They just don't make them like that anymore.