With a small crowd going to show up tomorrow for Father's Day cookout, I was thinking about my dad. He died early in my life and it was a terrific jolt to me. He was really a hell of a guy. A Seabee during World War 2, he served in the Philippines, Leyte Gulf, and around that area. He was a great mechanic, designing tools for the company he worked for. He was a workaholic. I am sure I would have turned out better if he had been around. And for sure I would have turned out different. He was for all his good, totally against art as a career. Which would have probably resulted in one of us leaving, and we all know who that would have been. I am sure we would have butted heads a few times.
But I also remember how much he did for me.....from building the world's strongest swing set that still stands today at our old house and I am sure will survive everything short of a 50 kilo-ton nuke! To pulling me around the Nebraska State Fair in a wagon with my broken ankle to see Roy Rogers, to giving me my first dog.
Ever since I was a kid, when we returned to our hometown in Nebraska, everyone knew me instantly because I look like him. I can only hope I act a little like him.
thanks Pop......I never got to call him that, I would have liked too.
What an uncanny resemblance! I suspect that your pop would be as proud of you as I am, pal. Probably even more.
ReplyDeleteHappy Father's Day, by the way.
Happy Father's Day,Tom! I hope it is a good one. For me, I'm a bachelor, and my Dad is gone, so just another day for me.
ReplyDeleteMilitary Service?
ReplyDeleteWork ethic?
Do anything for my kids?
Great mechanic?
He lives on.
He does favor you. I'm sure ya'll had a lot in common, and would have been proud of you art. Nice memories.
ReplyDeleteThanks everyone, I don't know if he would of been proud of me, but I have been chasing that ghost for over 40 years. thanks to all.
ReplyDelete