Sharing Memories of YOUR Dad...

mominiowa · Post by **mominiowa** » Sun Jun 19, 2005 10:37 am

My dad died in October of 2003 - and I can say I am still dreading every Fathers Day...Sooooo instead of being sad - I want to read all your funny-happy- memoriable - dad stories!!

First~ let me tell you- I am the baby of a family of 12 ..and my dad was a man of few words...very few..He grumbled- we knew we in trouble..if he smiled- he was proud of us. Saying that - here is my story..

When I was first sick, my dad had not been well himself. He was told he would have to go on Dialysis - and was NOT going to do it...anyway - I had not seen him - as I was living in southern Iowa - 4 hours from here...So I had gone through chemo and radiation and was of course with out hair, my face was so swollen, and I pretty much looked bad...- My brother was to get married and I was going to take my first trip home...When I arrived - it was late so I went right to the hotel and didn't end up seeing my dad until the rehearsal at the church the next day. I walked in with just a baseball hat on - and he looked across at me and waved me over...He grabbed my hand - and he just starred at me..He got tears in his eyes...and for the first time ever - My dad said - "I love you Toad, you know that right? You've always known that - right?......" My mom told me everyday that she loved me....I had NEVER heard my dad say it...I felt it - don't get me wrong, but never heard....That was the day - I will never forget.....Before he died..I sat at his bed - and held his hand - and told him I loved him over 1000 times...just so he knew it too........

:-6 On a happy note - I can remember the hundreds of times that my dad took me to the sale barn and I would come home with new kitties, puppies, goats, lambs - horses, Anything I wanted - there was always love there, he just didn't know how to express it........I miss my DADDY

Jives · Post by **Jives** » Sun Jun 19, 2005 10:44 am

Awww...that was sweet, Mom. I miss my Dad too. He and I used to go backpacking in the Rockies. He was a truly great man, a fighter pilot, a brilliant scientist, and excellent teacher and a wonderful father.

The computer you are typing on uses a quartz crystal clock made possible by my father's discovery of the IT cut, (Ives-Theta Cut) a way to cut crystals so that they vibrate in a specific way.

CARLA · Post by **CARLA** » Sun Jun 19, 2005 11:05 am

My DAD has alway been my HERO.. I look a lot like him so growing up I was called "LITTLE ANDY" I got lost at the fair one year, my dad was frantic. As he passed by the area where I was being kept a lady saw his head(very tall), she said sir your daughter is in here..

I was constantly with my DAD he taught me so much that I never really got to thank him for. He died at 57 in 1984, way to young he had CONGESTIVE HEART FAILURE. He sat down in his favorite chair on the Patio, a neighbor tried to talk to him, she realized he wasn't responding. She called me at work I was in my 30's I was devastated. I miss him each and every day. I go to my moms and hang out in the garage it still has all his tools, and work bench (which I use), I feel very close to him there. :-4

There is nothing like a wonderful FATHER in a childs life, it is so important on so many levels. Mom's are wonderful as well. Fathers are big, strong, fun, and our protectors.

HAVE A SPECIAL FATHERS DAY ALL YOU DAD'S YOUR SUCH A BIG PART OF ALL YOUR CHILDRENS LIVES.. YOU ARE SO VERY SPECIAL. :-4

babygirl · Post by **babygirl** » Sun Jun 19, 2005 11:23 am

First of all i am sorry for your losses :-4

I was not going to reply to this thread as my Dad is still with me, but i lost him for 4 years so i would like to share my memorys too,

I will never forget the time he took me fishing in his boat he got for his birthday along with a new fishing rod, we were fishing all day and i caught 5 big fish but my Dad never and he got that annoyed that he threw his fishing rod into the sea but forgot to let go of it and followed it into the sea, ha ha i had such a laugh at him for that, when we got home my mum asked where his rod was and he said a whopper of a lie to her saying that he got a big fish and could not handle it and the fish took his rod so he had to jump in the water to try and get it back, (she still believes that story)

my Dad is never one to show his feelings but today we met up and had a BBQ i told him that i missed him so much and i love him with all my heart and he turned around to me and said "pumpkin i love you too i always have and i always will"

pina · Post by **pina** » Sun Jun 19, 2005 11:44 am

I wasn't going to reply either but it is so sad when someone that really loved their dad and was loved back loses them.

Angel: you must be so proud of your dad and lucky to still have him.

I have not seen mine for about 12 years now, he moved back to his homeland - Sicily -and never got back in touch. I do know he speaks to one of my sisters, she told him that I was a grandmother now, but I've still not heard anything.

CARLA · Post by **CARLA** » Sun Jun 19, 2005 11:47 am

Pina,

I don't want to stick my nose in where it doesn't belong, but can you pick up the phone and call your day??? Do it you will feel better..!! :-4

ANGEL, Give your DAD a big HUG from ol CARLA :-4

Jives · Post by **Jives** » Sun Jun 19, 2005 11:52 am

I remember one time, I was camping with a "city slicker friend and he cast his rod when I was walking behind him, hooking me in the lip! Then, thinking he was hung up on a tree behind him, he pulled, HARD and sunk the barb. The blasted worm was wriggling on my tongue!

I was seriously upset, but my father said, "Don't worry, you'll be OK" and he produced a pair of wire cutter / needlenose pliers from his pack. He told me, "I'm going to have to push the barb through, this will hurt, but then I can cut the barb off."

I was so glad to have him there that day, and although it seems like a small thing now, he was sure my hero that day.

(I still have a small scar there!) :wah:

babygirl · Post by **babygirl** » Sun Jun 19, 2005 11:57 am

CARLA wrote: Pina,

I don't want to stick my nose in where it doesn't belong, but can you pick up the phone and call your day??? Do it you will feel better..!! :-4

ANGEL, Give your DAD a big HUG from ol CARLA :-4

Hey CARLA i have given my Dad a huge hug from you he is here with me now seeing what great friends i have on the net he says hi to everyone here xx

ps >> :-4

CARLA · Post by **CARLA** » Sun Jun 19, 2005 12:00 pm

HAPPY FATHERS DAY ANGEL'S DAD.. :-4 :-4

Peg · Post by **Peg** » Sun Jun 19, 2005 12:06 pm

Jives wrote: I remember one time, I was camping with a "city slicker friend and he cast his rod when I was walking behind him, hooking me in the lip! Then, thinking he was hung up on a tree behind him, he pulled, HARD and sunk the barb. The blasted worm was wriggling on my tongue!

I was seriously upset, but my father said, "Don't worry, you'll be OK" and he produced a pair of wire cutter / needlenose pliers from his pack. He told me, "I'm going to have to push the barb through, this will hurt, but then I can cut the barb off."

I was so glad to have him there that day, and although it seems like a small thing now, he was sure my hero that day.

(I still have a small scar there!) :wah:

All I can say is OUCH!

abbey · Post by **abbey** » Sun Jun 19, 2005 12:22 pm

My mum & dad could smell gas so my dad playing detective went looking, he opened the oven door with a cig dangling from the corner of his mouth and WOOSH...my mum had left the gas on.

My dads eyebrows got burnt off and his tee shirt was peppered with little holes,

he was livid with her.

I know it sounds awful but it was so funny!

pina · Post by **pina** » Sun Jun 19, 2005 12:39 pm

[QUOTE=CARLA]Pina,

I don't want to stick my nose in where it doesn't belong, but can you pick up the phone and call your day??? Do it you will feel better..!! :-4

Sorry Carla but NO!

It's not a sad or even a upsetting story with my dad, he just was never a dad to us kids. It's a very long story that I might tell one day.

I will say one reason I wont go to him now is that he came back after about six years to see his sister and kids for a christening. My daughter had just had her first baby, my only grandchild who was born 8 weeks early and was still in hospital.

We never seen him.

And before you say why didn't I get in touch with him.....I didn't know he'd been until months later when I met my cousin and she said that she had told him about the baby.

I could tell you lots of stories similar about my dad....

The last Fathers Day card I gave him when I was 16 was left unopened on the side table for 3 months until I put it in the bin.

This isn't sour grapes and I'm not angry or hurt with him, there is no hate or for that matter no love between us.

So NO Carla I dont feel I could or should phone him.

anastrophe · Post by **anastrophe** » Sun Jun 19, 2005 12:58 pm

my dad died a couple of years ago. he was a giant of a man to me, and all of five foot five inches tall. i'm six feet tall, and it wasn't until i was in my late twenties that it really 'dawned' on me that i was taller than him. he was also a man of few words, but with a deliciously sardonic sense of humor. everyone who knew him, loved him to pieces. he was an absolute charmer.

at his memorial service, i was wistfully speaking to a young friend of my mom's, of how wonderful a father he was - she said, very pointedly, "how lucky you were", which gave me pause - and i said 'i guess i was', to which she replied, 'yes, my father was not wonderful'. it was a poignant moment of a sort, realizing that I was indeed lucky, and feeling for someone not so lucky.

i put together this memorial site for my dad after he died:

http://peter.theodoropoulos.org

CARLA · Post by **CARLA** » Sun Jun 19, 2005 1:18 pm

PINA,

I understand, I apologize for asking forgive me please I don't want to make you unhappy.. :-4

pina · Post by **pina** » Sun Jun 19, 2005 1:25 pm

CARLA wrote: PINA,

I understand, I apologize for asking forgive me please I don't want to make you unhappy.. :-4

Nothing to forgive Carla.

I'm not sad or unhappy about it, its just one of those things, I've grown up with it being like that.

I've always had my MOM she was everything to me, I love her to bits. Just wait until Mothers Day I can post something good about her.:-4

mominiowa · Post by **mominiowa** » Sun Jun 19, 2005 1:29 pm

What a great website....Thanks for sharing all your great stories.....Your father can still be alive - SHARE SHARE -

I actually got a good laugh today...My brother was just over and said - "come on - we gotta go to see dad...I said I had been there and didn't want to go back - and he said -" NOW..." So being the baby I went :-3 ..LOL We stopped off at "Cork & Bottle" grabbed a small bottle of Beam, and we went and had a toast with dad.....left the bottle out there...boy o- boy does that stuff taste bad...but it was dads favorite...Can I share some pics with you? - and I hope I do not offend anyone... Some people think I am a strange bird for taking these, but I wanted my kids to remember EVERYTHING about grandpa - even the funeral...

My DAD!! :-4

Attached files

CARLA · Post by **CARLA** » Sun Jun 19, 2005 1:34 pm

PINA, I'M LOOKING FORWARD TO HEARING ABOUT YOUR DEAR MOM.

Nothing to forgive Carla.

I'm not sad or unhappy about it, its just one of those things, I've grown up with it being like that.

I've always had my MOM she was everything to me, I love her to bits. Just wait until Mothers Day I can post something good about her.

jasmund · Post by **jasmund** » Sat Jul 16, 2005 9:32 pm

Hummmmm, Are we supposed to remember conception, cause thats the closest to a memory I have of my dad, my biological one anyway, then theres the dad who adopted me out of the orphanage, hummmmm, guess that would be him driving out the driveway and never comming back, oh, yeah , the second step dad, hummm, threatened to kill my mom, hummmm, the third step dad, left me and my little boy stranded in Ohio , Well lets be honest, I voluntarily removed my self of that situation and sought a church for help through 911.

-Oh one mom father memory, the one who loves me the most, he gave me his one and only son who loves me to pieces, and has given me hope, love and happiness. That would be God

-Jasmund

Accountable · Post by **Accountable** » Sun Jul 17, 2005 5:08 am

It amazes me how cathartic FG is. A gentle cleansing for some, an acid bath for others. Okay, here's mine.

My relationship with my father is much like Pina's. Left us when I was 9 or 10 after the divorce and never initiated contact. I tried to rekindle it several times over the years. He was very receptive, friendly, and kind every time I'd call or visit, but all the energy came from me without anything in return. I gave up after writing myself a letter and asking for advice. You know, the "what would you tell someone else in the same situation" sort of thing.

The one good memory I have that came up several times as I read these posts, was once when we were walking down along the creek in the woods near our house. I was maybe five. I stepped too close to the bank and the edge gave way. I slid in and grabbed for the only thing nearby: a tuft of grass. As the grass came out by the roots I grabbed another handfull, and another and another, calling for Daddy to help me. He was just standing there while I struggled not to drown! Finally he said, "Just let go; you'll be fine." He had to say it several times, but I finally stopped struggling ... and nothing happened. I was standing in about 6 inches of water. I was simultaneously relieved and embarrassed. Daddy took the opportunity to relate a Bible story about the fishermen who Jesus (I believe) told them to either fish or drink water where they were at. I can't remember which.

My father always seemed to have a Bible story ready for any situation... except for when I asked him why he divorced and left us.

Post by **Betty Boop** » Sun Jul 17, 2005 5:57 am

My Dad died 11 years ago this October, he was 65.

He was quiet, and had a wicked sense of humour, I can honestly say that I was closer to my Dad than my Mum, he had the patience of a saint, I can remember him teaching me to tie laces, to ride my bike, he even taught me to sew!! He used to come home for dinner and in the summer holidays would drive us to the beach, go back to work then join us later when he'd finished and take us swimming.

He had some great tales of when he was in the army, and back in his Boys Brigade days.

One thing I do regret is that we never talked about death. When my Dad died none of us knew if he'd like to be cremated or buried. Mum wanted to go with the cheaper option, cremation, but I completely fell apart and I couldn't cope with 'burning' my Dad, so because of me Dad was buried and it has always worried me that maybe he would have preffered cremation.

theia · Post by **theia** » Sun Jul 17, 2005 7:00 am

Reading what you write about your Dad, Betty, he would have understood your decision completely and wouldn't want you to worry about it at all.

My father died in 2000 at the age of 82. He spent the last 18 months of his life in an emi nursing home because he was suffering from Alzheimer's. I use the word "suffering" loosely because he seemed at his happiest and as if he had one foot in another, quite beautiful world. But sometimes I really hated going to visit him. I couldn't have a proper conversation with him and he didn't know me.

One day, I was driving down to the home and finding it difficult to face the visit. I sent up a silent prayer, asking that he show just some small sign that he still knew me. Incredibly (or not, maybe?) in the midst of his ramblings about things and events I knew nothing about and couldn't understand, he said my name, so clearly and so positively. Just once. But that was all it took.

jasmund · Post by **jasmund** » Sun Jul 17, 2005 10:35 am

Mominiowa-

-Nothing strange about love!

Thank-you for sharing, you made my heart warm and fuzzy. Thats beautiful!

Remeber dads not gone, hes but a thought away.

jasmund · Post by **jasmund** » Sun Jul 17, 2005 11:02 am

Accountable, sorry to hear about the divorce statment, however mine turned out wonderful, I have my faith and that erased alot of pain, maybe your father cant give you a reason because its to hard to put into words, or he feared you wouldnt understand or were to young to comprehend the vastness of the situation.

-Not and answere, just a thought

nvalleyvee · Post by **nvalleyvee** » Sun Jul 17, 2005 3:07 pm

My Dad died while serving in the military in 1961. I was 5, my brothers were 3 and 2. I have one good memory of him builing a mermaid bed for me when I had Chicken Pox.

I have a wonderful step-father who stepped up to the plate for three fatherless children. :-4

Accountable · Post by **Accountable** » Sun Jul 17, 2005 5:26 pm

jasmund wrote: Accountable, sorry to hear about the divorce statment, however mine turned out wonderful, I have my faith and that erased alot of pain, maybe your father cant give you a reason because its to hard to put into words, or he feared you wouldnt understand or were to young to comprehend the vastness of the situation.

-Not and answere, just a thought
Yes, well, you had no way of knowing that the last time I asked him about it I was in my late 30s. Thank you for the thought, though.