Yes, that's Natalie again. I'll give her another blog spot pix only b/c it was her b'day yesterday! HA HA! No, it was a great picture of Daddy and it just captures so much in his face. That's the face I miss. Not the confused/puzzled face that held him hostage for the last year of his life. One reason I made the edges of this photo look singed was because I want to burn THAT image of Daddy in my photo bank. And tell you a funny part of me and my daddy's relationship. (OK, English teachers out there, is it "My Dad and I" or "me and my Dad"? Oh well, whichever, it's about US)!
I'm not going to blog all about how MY Daddy far surpasses yours. (Most readers have, whom they think is/was the best daddy in the world and when I read what somebody else writes about their daddy I immediately want to TOP THEIR STORY! BAHAHAHAHA!)! No, I'm going to talk about DADDY in another light. Daddy as TEACHER. not my favorite hat daddy wore. And he wore it every night after dinner with THE HOMEWORK.
First a little (short) background on my Pop. Daddy was born in 1912. He was the 4th child of 5. (there were 6 but one infant male, the oldest, died of Whooping Cough at 3 months of age--I don't know why I added that sad information but it always makes me SO SAD b/c my grandmother would always talk about it to me and it would break my heart. Now your heart can break thinking about losing a 3 month old! ANOTHER REASON FOR INFANT INNOCULATIONS , PEOPLE! Sad!). Anyway,, Daddy was basically, the middle child. One GIRL in the mix. All the rest boys. I think, from stories I've heard over the years, that those boys were rough and tough. Street fighters/fist pumpers and always scuffling! haha! Daddy''s daddy was pretty rough himself and, get this, my grandmother was barely 16 when she married her husband, my grandfather, who was 29 years old! DO THE MATH! (DOING THE MATH is exactly what this blog is going to be about, FYI! LOL) That's 14 years older!!!!!! Heavens to betsy! (where the heck did that phrase just come from? Oh , I guess b/c I'm talking about the old days! ha!). All that, kind of weird background stuff, to say this, I don't know how he did it but he ended up with some major brain cells. Daddy was smart. I know, I KNOW, I said I wouldn't brag on my dad. But, that's not braggin' that's just a fact. I mean, he knew it all. He was a STICKLER for good English and if I said the wrong word in a sentence it was "Katie bar the door". And, NO T.V. at night when allllllllllll my friends watched the latest shows, I had to sit at the dining room table and do homework!!!!!!! UGH!!!!!!!!!! (with the exception of "Bewitched", I could watch that! LOL!). Anyway, I didn't love Daddy all that much after dinner during the schools was in session. In FACT, I hated the thought of dinner being over because "come hell or high water" we were going to sit at that dining room table and do math afterwards. OH MY GOSH.The fact that he was smart was the problem. Because he knew so much and was so good at math that "after dinner homework" time was hell for me.
So's here the scenario.....He would write out the numbers on the dining room table while my mom was busy cleaning up the kitchen (she wasn't good at math either) and I would just start having that pit in my stomach because I knew "here we go again". In the words of a math problem: Jan PLUS homework PLUS idiot PLUS multiplying/dividing PLUS Daddy explaining EQUAL: DIsaster!!!!!!!!!!! I JUST DIDN'T GET IT!!!!!!!!!!!!! I would lie and say, "Yes, Dadddy, I DO understand." Then he would do that thing I can see as clear as day. He would start writing out my own damn set of problems to work to SHOW him I knew what I was talking about. Now, here is where I am SMART!!!!!!!!!!!! THIS IS WHAT I'D DO.....
Daddy: "Ok, sweetheart. Here's your math problem. THINK about what I just showed you. Because you are going to be in a classroom and you are going to have a test and I want you to make 100!"
******** THAT BEING: KISS OF DEATH************
Jan: "Daddy, what was it like when YOU were in school? Did you use a chalkboard? Did you have tests? WHat?"
*I WAS SPINNING the topic. Hey, I'm SMART at that ! At one thing at least!*
Daddy: (laughing) "NO! We had pencils and paper just like you. And yes, we had tests".
Jan: "Daddy, why do we have NUMBER 2 Pencils?? why not number 1 or 42?"
*****picture a really CUTE (yeah, me) little girl with long hair to the waist/one dimple and pretty white teeth (not anymore, not anymore they are white, but I still have long hair and a dimple) SAYING.......
Jan: "Daddy, can we go to Silver Springs this summer?"
*****I;m TELLING YOU, I was the expert at SPINNING. BUT, Daddy probably had the FIRST "NO SPIN ZONE"--even before Bill O'reilly made the TV show. (Maybe HIS daddy was like mine!)
Daddy: "Now listen to me. We will talk about our vacation another day. But NOW, we are going to do a little math. You're so smart, you don't use your full potential".
LET ME REPEAT THAT OK?????????? BECAUSE I HEARD THIS, MAYBE TEN MILLION TIMES GROWING UP!!!!!!!!!
"You're so smart, you're not using your FULL potential"!!!!!!!!!!
Jan: TO DADDY IN HEAVEN:
"OK, DADDY!!!!!!!!!!!! I AM TRYING! I am now 62 and I am finally heeding your words!!!!!!!!! I'm blogging, Daddy! Daddy, you always were sooooo proud of me regarding my ENGLISH grades! Your face would beam ,(kind of like in the picture above with you and Natalie), and smile when my ENGLISH grades came in! You were soooo happy. You said I was always "wordy". FINALLY, Daddy, I am listening and re-calling your advice. Daddy, I want to thank you, too. Thank you for your UN-ENDING patience with me. THANK YOU for, yes, TAKING ME to Silver Springs. Thank you for teaching me that ,even when I failed MATH TESTS (which I failed more than I passed) it was OK!!!!!! That you would still pull out my chair in the dining room and never give up TRYING to teach me. Thank you for encouraging me to write. I remember taking you one of my little "books" I wrote when I wrote that horrible little ditty called "Heaven Help the Small Frys" and you were soooo excited.
Jan: "Daddy, I wrote this little book about raising the Small Frys"
Daddy: (wiping eyes) "You're a good writer".
Daddy, thank you the MOST for encouraging me to READ every single day. That reading would open doors for me that MATH BOOKS might not. That by reading, I was learning how to WRITE!!!!!!!!!!
You know what? On this day, Jan. 23, 2014 my eyes are once again filling up with tears. My DADDY. My teacher. My encourager. My '"You can do this". My "I'm so proud of you, sweetheart". My "keep on writing" cheer leader.
Daddy. this blog is for you.
Now, meet me at the dining room table.
I'm not going to blog all about how MY Daddy far surpasses yours. (Most readers have, whom they think is/was the best daddy in the world and when I read what somebody else writes about their daddy I immediately want to TOP THEIR STORY! BAHAHAHAHA!)! No, I'm going to talk about DADDY in another light. Daddy as TEACHER. not my favorite hat daddy wore. And he wore it every night after dinner with THE HOMEWORK.
First a little (short) background on my Pop. Daddy was born in 1912. He was the 4th child of 5. (there were 6 but one infant male, the oldest, died of Whooping Cough at 3 months of age--I don't know why I added that sad information but it always makes me SO SAD b/c my grandmother would always talk about it to me and it would break my heart. Now your heart can break thinking about losing a 3 month old! ANOTHER REASON FOR INFANT INNOCULATIONS , PEOPLE! Sad!). Anyway,, Daddy was basically, the middle child. One GIRL in the mix. All the rest boys. I think, from stories I've heard over the years, that those boys were rough and tough. Street fighters/fist pumpers and always scuffling! haha! Daddy''s daddy was pretty rough himself and, get this, my grandmother was barely 16 when she married her husband, my grandfather, who was 29 years old! DO THE MATH! (DOING THE MATH is exactly what this blog is going to be about, FYI! LOL) That's 14 years older!!!!!! Heavens to betsy! (where the heck did that phrase just come from? Oh , I guess b/c I'm talking about the old days! ha!). All that, kind of weird background stuff, to say this, I don't know how he did it but he ended up with some major brain cells. Daddy was smart. I know, I KNOW, I said I wouldn't brag on my dad. But, that's not braggin' that's just a fact. I mean, he knew it all. He was a STICKLER for good English and if I said the wrong word in a sentence it was "Katie bar the door". And, NO T.V. at night when allllllllllll my friends watched the latest shows, I had to sit at the dining room table and do homework!!!!!!! UGH!!!!!!!!!! (with the exception of "Bewitched", I could watch that! LOL!). Anyway, I didn't love Daddy all that much after dinner during the schools was in session. In FACT, I hated the thought of dinner being over because "come hell or high water" we were going to sit at that dining room table and do math afterwards. OH MY GOSH.The fact that he was smart was the problem. Because he knew so much and was so good at math that "after dinner homework" time was hell for me.
So's here the scenario.....He would write out the numbers on the dining room table while my mom was busy cleaning up the kitchen (she wasn't good at math either) and I would just start having that pit in my stomach because I knew "here we go again". In the words of a math problem: Jan PLUS homework PLUS idiot PLUS multiplying/dividing PLUS Daddy explaining EQUAL: DIsaster!!!!!!!!!!! I JUST DIDN'T GET IT!!!!!!!!!!!!! I would lie and say, "Yes, Dadddy, I DO understand." Then he would do that thing I can see as clear as day. He would start writing out my own damn set of problems to work to SHOW him I knew what I was talking about. Now, here is where I am SMART!!!!!!!!!!!! THIS IS WHAT I'D DO.....
Daddy: "Ok, sweetheart. Here's your math problem. THINK about what I just showed you. Because you are going to be in a classroom and you are going to have a test and I want you to make 100!"
******** THAT BEING: KISS OF DEATH************
Jan: "Daddy, what was it like when YOU were in school? Did you use a chalkboard? Did you have tests? WHat?"
*I WAS SPINNING the topic. Hey, I'm SMART at that ! At one thing at least!*
Daddy: (laughing) "NO! We had pencils and paper just like you. And yes, we had tests".
Jan: "Daddy, why do we have NUMBER 2 Pencils?? why not number 1 or 42?"
*****picture a really CUTE (yeah, me) little girl with long hair to the waist/one dimple and pretty white teeth (not anymore, not anymore they are white, but I still have long hair and a dimple) SAYING.......
Jan: "Daddy, can we go to Silver Springs this summer?"
*****I;m TELLING YOU, I was the expert at SPINNING. BUT, Daddy probably had the FIRST "NO SPIN ZONE"--even before Bill O'reilly made the TV show. (Maybe HIS daddy was like mine!)
Daddy: "Now listen to me. We will talk about our vacation another day. But NOW, we are going to do a little math. You're so smart, you don't use your full potential".
LET ME REPEAT THAT OK?????????? BECAUSE I HEARD THIS, MAYBE TEN MILLION TIMES GROWING UP!!!!!!!!!
"You're so smart, you're not using your FULL potential"!!!!!!!!!!
Jan: TO DADDY IN HEAVEN:
"OK, DADDY!!!!!!!!!!!! I AM TRYING! I am now 62 and I am finally heeding your words!!!!!!!!! I'm blogging, Daddy! Daddy, you always were sooooo proud of me regarding my ENGLISH grades! Your face would beam ,(kind of like in the picture above with you and Natalie), and smile when my ENGLISH grades came in! You were soooo happy. You said I was always "wordy". FINALLY, Daddy, I am listening and re-calling your advice. Daddy, I want to thank you, too. Thank you for your UN-ENDING patience with me. THANK YOU for, yes, TAKING ME to Silver Springs. Thank you for teaching me that ,even when I failed MATH TESTS (which I failed more than I passed) it was OK!!!!!! That you would still pull out my chair in the dining room and never give up TRYING to teach me. Thank you for encouraging me to write. I remember taking you one of my little "books" I wrote when I wrote that horrible little ditty called "Heaven Help the Small Frys" and you were soooo excited.
Jan: "Daddy, I wrote this little book about raising the Small Frys"
Daddy: (wiping eyes) "You're a good writer".
Daddy, thank you the MOST for encouraging me to READ every single day. That reading would open doors for me that MATH BOOKS might not. That by reading, I was learning how to WRITE!!!!!!!!!!
You know what? On this day, Jan. 23, 2014 my eyes are once again filling up with tears. My DADDY. My teacher. My encourager. My '"You can do this". My "I'm so proud of you, sweetheart". My "keep on writing" cheer leader.
Daddy. this blog is for you.
Now, meet me at the dining room table.