Happy Father’s Day Daddy

I’m 40 years old and I still call him Daddy. Or Pops. I remember being little and my hands were so small I had to hold his pinky finger not his hand. I remember dancing around the living room with me on top of his feet. I remember having cherry pit spitting contests in the backyard in the summer. I remember building a cathouse together for my two kittens because I insisted they needed one. I remember rescuing all sorts of injured animals and Daddy fixing them up good as new…once there was even a bat with a broken wing that he splinted. I remember my first airplane ride when Daddy was the pilot, my door flew open upon takeoff, & his words of wisdom…”shut the damn door!”. I remember great adventures on vacation: driving past the “no rentals cars beyond this point” sign on the side of a mountain in Hawai’i, swimming in frigid Lake Superior water, forging streams and having to pull leeches from our feet, a forced march in Yosemite and The Grand Canyon, dumplings in San Francisco, horseback riding somewhere out west and he got the literal crazy horse, mini golf on every single vacation because I insisted and winner got to pick dinner. I remember waffles for breakfast & that he’d throw them across the table for me to catch with my plate. I remember spending all day with him on the farm working, fixing things, milking cows, planting or combining corn. I remember sitting in the back bed of his pickup truck driving down the lane with my pet sheep Chop. My Daddy taught me how to drive tractors, and lawn mowers, and big trucks. He taught me how to rake hay, and water ski, and spit. Daddy taught me his work ethic and to always work hard for what I want (even if that means working 7 days a week, 20 hours a day).  He taught me to be nice to everyone but take shit from nobody. Daddy taught me that I could and should get a 4.0 in college. He taught me my love for photography, how to use a camera, and how to develop slide film in the bathtub. Daddy taught me that strawberries are best by the quarts when they’re fresh picked and that the best tasting water is straight from the spicket in the backyard. He taught me how to drink directly from the bottle in the refrigerator, no glass needed. Daddy taught me to love old black and white movies, and Alfred Hitchcock, and The Twilight Zone. Daddy…I have always looked up to you. I love you with my whole heart. Thank you for teaching me so many wonderful things and for being such a wonderful role model. Happy Father’s Day. This is a blurry old photo…but one of my very very favorites ever. A bath in a tupperware bowl!