"Dear Old Dad" Revisited

I wanted to revisit a blog post I wrote about my father. I wrote this in 2009 and it still rings true today. Sadly, I lost my father in 2013 after some harrowing times. 

 

Happy Father's Day in heaven Dad where I'm sure you are celebrating with our Heavenly Father!

 

 

Sometimes words escape me, even me! What word do I use to describe my dad? I suppose I will use the first one that comes to my mind: GENEROUS. He was the fix-it man who everyone always came to when they needed help. He worked for P.G.&E. (gas and electric company) for 42 years, and no surprise here, he was the shop steward........ We always took in the cousins who had gone astray in the big city (we lived in a small town of 7,000). The big city was Bakersfield, California, lol.
 Dad loves fishing, and never missed an opening day of the season until recently. He taught us to fish in the streams that run the Sierra Nevadas. I remember walking along the beautiful banks of those creeks. Dad would whisper,"Now don't let the fish see your shadow." He showed us how to fill our creels with moist grass, how to angle in little pools made by the beaver dams, and how to keep quiet, and enjoy our surroundings.
He would take us on walks and make up fabulous stories about the Smith family, the only remaining family of the Donner Party. He would pause by a rock and say, "This is where the Smiths buried the baby during that cold, cold winter. He'd have us in laughter and tears during those nature walks, filling us with imaginary tales of poverty, love, and survival during pioneer times.
 He let us each bring a friend for our two week vacation, and sometimes the cousins would come up to spend some time with us.
 Dad would always build an outhouse with the help of the boys. He would find three pines in close proximity, dig a deep hole, position the throne, and put up a rope and canvas covering with a flap opening. We always had the best camp on the mountain, we thought.
He was a true environmentalist. He taught us to leave nature as we had found it.
 This was before the days of modern convenience, unless you were rich. But we were rich, if not monetarily. He was barbecue king, and carpenter extraordinaire. When mom and dad bought their first house I was seven and my big brother was nine. Mom was pregnant with our soon to be little brother. Dad made my older brother and I headboards with our names on them. To make planter boxes for the front of the house, Dad would go out and pick up the cement that the cement trucks dropped when they stopped on the side of the road with their funnel trucks. He would mix up the cement, and fashioned lovely planters with native rock.
 See how long this post is, and I haven't even touched the surface of my father. Father, if you read this please know, "I love you".
 Of course, papa isn't perfect, and we had our differences. But, I wouldn't trade my dad for any other dad in the whole wide world. So sure was I of his power, that at six years old I told a friend whom I was arguing with that my dad would turn off her electricity and gas if she didn't be nice. I think I got in trouble over that one, lol.
Please let me know how your dad's shaped your world.
By the way, my father will be 79 years old this year. He works at the church we attend, and waters the grounds most everyday. He still fishes, and carpenters. He is still a handy man and loving father. My hat is off to you pops. I hope I can retain the same spirit you have when I reach that age....

A GOOD name is rather to be chosen than great riches, and loving favour rather than silver and gold. Proverbs 22:1

Happy Father's Day to Father's Everywhere,
Theresa