Wednesday, November 5, 2008

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.

19 comments:

2nd Cup of Coffee said...

I thought this was a lovely tribute! And yes, we need to laugh, and I think you were respectful. My parents say "windo" as "winda," as in "Shut the winda, Linda!"

Greg C said...

Now where did you get that Andy/Obama idea....I wonder. :) I thought it was a great tribute. My MIl comes over every week and has those Veg a tab les with us. She also talks about the Ivry which is growning on our fence. And she wants to go to Ha why ya too. That made me laugh. Keep it up. We need a good laugh.

Edie said...

Your dad sounds allright! :D This was a very sweet tribute to him. And as in true ADHD-Jo style, made me LOL! and even WAHAHAHAH!

Sue J. said...

Somehow I missed a lot of these stories in knowing all you sisters.... Nicely written here, though.

(Father's Day is in June; print this up and frame it, and you'll be all set!)

Kelly said...

Smile.

Kelly said...

**off topic** I saw your comment at Gregs. I left one and said how sometimes you "click" with someone and don't know why, and then later you figure it out. Isn't God amazing, connecting souls together? No coincidences in life. Anyway- I related to his post and know you could too. Glad I "introduced" y'all.

Anonymous said...

This made me laugh. I forgot the "and all" Also, one time he asked me when my phone didn't work if the card was loose--I thought, we have alot of high tech things in our house but I don't think our phone has a card in it--then I realized he was saying "CORD".


FYI Yesterday I BARROCKED the votes--my first time voting. I was proud to be part of such an event!

ET

Bonita said...

What a beautiful tribute to your dad. He sounds like a wonderful, self-sacrificing person.

When I first saw that picture at the top I thought Andy Griffith might be your dad and you had just kept it a secret all this time.

My father (stepdad) doesn't have a southern accent, but when I was a teenager my friends would call just hoping he would answer the phone so they could hear him say, "Yellow". I have no idea what two words he was trying to combine there, but I always wanted to say, "No, green!"

P.S. Did I mention that you did extremely well writing this post? Sounds professional and definitely doesn't sound ADHD.

The Equipped Life said...

This was such a nice post for today.

Bonita: My husband sometimes says "yellow" too. He takes it after his wonderful grandfather who always answered the phone that way. I always get so tickled when I hear him say it.

Anonymous said...

My grandmother use to say that and with such a country twang yyyyelllloow. I still remember her little phone in her bedroom she use to shuffle her feet to go answer :( I miss my ya-ya!!!

ET

My ADHD Me said...

Actually, wasn't it more of a "Nyellow"?

Edie said...

Haha! My Grandma, my dad, and two of my uncles answered the phone Nyellow. I had forgotten about that.

I had one uncle who had a very STRONG drawl. When Jack in the Box was first built in our city (yes I'm old enough to remember that) we all went (family outing) to get something to eat and went through the drive through (1st drive through). When my uncle ordered he began Ooooooooooooooonnnnnnnnneee ...
Cracked us up and the lady inside Jack.

Edie said...

CK - I know you like pink but I have to tell you that red really is your color. :D

Edie said...

I should have said Wwwoooooooooooooonnnnnnnnneee ...

My ADHD Me said...

WAHAHAHAHAHAHA!

Anonymous said...

your right it was nyellow--maybe she couldn't decide between navy and yellow--it's a hard choice--I know I struggle with it.

ET

Sue J. said...

We don't say "Nyellow" in New Jersey. But, we do say "RRRRange" (as in the color and the fruit), and maybe a few other strange things.

Just the fact that I say "y'all" now gets my family staring and giggling.

The Patterson 5 said...

Oh that was soooo nice! I've met your dad and he does have an Andy Taylor look and definately an Andy Taylor sweetness. You are right they do not make them like that anymore. He is a dear man.

Anonymous said...

I love this post. I love my Dad too and we told lots of stories about him when his girls were together this week. He moved to heaven in 1990 and I'll miss him until I get there too.