I Miss You Daddy

After my mom died, Dad said that he had no intetions of marrying again.  No one was expecting Virginia to come along.  After he married her, one of the things he told me about her was that she was abused as a child by her father.  Dad asked me, "Did I ever abuse you kids/"  That was just rediculous.  He did have a temper and got mad about stupid things, but he never abused anybody.

When I was a child about nine years old, Dad hit me.  That was the one and only time it ever happened.  He felt really bad and apologized.

When I think of my dad.  I think of him singing, "I'll Take You Home Again, Kathleen."  I have memories of riding with him in his truck and sitting on his lap eating popcorn and watching the fights.  I thought he was funny.  I was proud to have my friends meet him.

He put up with a lot from me.  I used to melt holes in his steering wheel with the cigarette lighter in his car.  He got mad but he never over reacted.

When us kids grew into adults, he stayed involved in our lives.  I remember him going to a biker's bar looking for my brother, Steve.  He didn't like mental health, but he took me to the crisis worker and the University Medical Center many times, sometimes in the middle of the night.

When he lived in Midvale and I lived in different apartments he helped me in many situations.  He could solve almost any problem.  One time in particular, I accidently threw my keys in the dumpster.  I thought I was going to have to climb in the dumpster to get my keys.  I thought I could get in it, but I didn't know how to get out.  Dad solved my problem.  He brought over a long stick with a magnet on the end, people use them to collect pop cans out of dumpsters.  Dad got my keys out, once again to the rescue.

I miss you, Daddy