Being it's the night before Father's Day, I am going to take the easy way out and write about my Dad.
Here are some of the things I remember about Dad and me......
When I was in the 2nd grade I was leaving school to walk home for lunch (picture letting your kids do that now anywhere........ never mind the Bronx). As I walked out of the building my Dad was standing there. He says Mom had to take George and Cheryl to the Dr. so he was going to take me to lunch. We walked to a diner a block or two from the school and had lunch together. I thought this was really great to have time with Dad all by myself. I felt so grown-up.
I believed that Dad could change the traffic lights at will. He and I were riding in our station wagon ( me in the front seat with no seat belt.......hey everyone did that back then). Each time we got to a red light he would tell me how many seconds it would be until the light would change to green. He was always right and I was in awe.
He intimidated the crap our of my 5th grade teacher after she embarrassed me in class (the letter he wrote her she took to the Bd. of Education lawyers and said it was a threat on her life...LOL).
He ran a zillion miles holding on to my bike until he finally let me go and I kept going not realizing he was no longer beside me.
He endured a very long evening with me at a High School Father Daughter Dance. He later admitted he did have a good time (his quick trip to a local bar during the intermission at the dance may have helped).
When I would go out on a date Dad would walk me and "the guy" out to the car. The guys always thought he was being nice. Not really......he was getting the make, model and license plate number of the car I was going out in.
When I go home from the date, I had 5 seconds to exit the car, if I didn't the outside lights would flash on and off. If I still didn't get out of the car he would come out of the house onto the driveway.
The night before I got married he said " I am going to miss having you around here Donna". I started to cry and couldn't stop. In fact my something old was one of his handkerchiefs. He knew then he had cancer........I did not know.....he didn't want my day to be ruined by that news.
Fortunately, he was still with us when Jennifer was born. The last time he ever drove his car was to come see me and Jenn in the hospital. After having 4 grandsons he now had a granddaughter.
Two and a half months later, he was gone. That was almost 30 years ago.......
It is hard for me to believe I have lived almost half my life without him.
It is hard to believe I am older than he was when he died.
I often wonder what he would think of me today.......as a Mom he would have been pleased, my career would have gotten a passing grade, as a wife to be honest not so good, he would have liked that I try to keep in touch with all my siblings, he would not have liked that I have let so much time go without seeing family at times (I am trying to work on that), he would not have been happy about my weight ( working on that too Dad), he would have liked that I write, he would have liked that I have some exciting plans for my future, he would have liked how close my Mom and I got to be in her later years.
I do still see Dad all around me......from the painting of his courthouse that hangs in my living room to the way Jenn looks at me over her glasses (when she wears them). He is still here in my heart......
I can picture Dad saying to Mom. "are the kids doing OK?" And Mom responding back "the kids are just fine George" then she would say " What do you want for dinner?"......
Happy Father's Day Dad !!!!.......I love you and miss you more than words can say........
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