I realize I’ve written quite a bit about my mom and not too much about my dad. I think that even though he passed away before she did I just wasn’t ready to do this until now. A good friend of mine lost her dad last week and that has made me think of mine a lot lately. I miss both of my parents but in different ways which is kind of strange.
I realize how lucky I was to have my dad around for nearly 60 years of my life. I wish that Jacky would have had the same fortune. His dad passed away when Jacky was just 30. It’s always made me sad that Bill didn’t get to see his grandkids grow up. He would have been so proud of them all.
It was also a blessing that Daddy’s mind was sharp and his health was good for all of that time. His only real complaint was bad knees. Now he wasn’t ever a person who walked a lot but he wanted to able to ride a horse again.
I think he had a saying for just about every occasion. I thought they were pretty corny when I was younger and they probably are but now I find myself thinking about them and even repeating them when they fit the situation. His favorite when he couldn’t remember something like someone’s name was, “it will float to the top after while”. I’m in that situation a lot now and always hear him inside my head.
One of the things he loved the most was a “good deal” even if he didn’t need it. My poor brother had lots of “good deals” to get rid of out of the multitude of barns he had after Daddy passed away. He also never threw anything away that he thought he might possibly use again even if it might be 15 years down the road. I think the appropriate word might be “hoarder” but in his case it wasn’t any attachment to items. We had a big orange barn that he bought from a lumberyard when I was just a little girl. Although it hadn’t been orange for 30-40 years we still called it that. Mom told us multiple times that when he died the smartest thing we could do with that orange barn was to strike a match to it. That’s where he kept a lot of his “treasures”.
Our favorite story about his frugality was the $2 dollar bill story. For some reason he loved carrying $2 dollar bills but 1 Thanksgiving while we were eating our turkey he pulled a roll of them out of his shirt pocket and told us that he had gone to the bank and gotten a bunch of them because they would come in handy for tip money. We just about spit out our giblet gravy. Afterwards we laughed that all the wait staff in Big Spring was now going to get double their tips. $2 instead of $1.
The funny thing about those $2 bills is that someone in the family seems to always be getting them as change or something. We sold some scrap metal from the ranch a few months after he died and the guy paid my brother in $2 bills. Just last week a cashier asked if I minded getting my change in $2 bills. It always brings a fond memory.
I have a lot more stories about his eccentricities to share but I will save them for another time. Sharing this has brought me joy and I hope it has brought some good memories of your loved ones who have passed on.
He covers the sky with clouds; he supplies the earth with rain and makes grass grow on the hills.
Psalm 147:8
Loved this. My dad died shortly after I turned 15. There are so many things I wished he had been around for. Dads are special,
Oh my goodness. Substitute pickup for horse and this could be me writing of my Dad. Generational stories are important.
Thanks for another great read Candy!
I really enjoyed reading these memories of your Dad, Candy.
Such a Wonderful Story….thank you so much for sharing with us….please keep writing your memories….we are so Lucky to have these memories…love you my sweet friend…..