In honor of my wife's, father and his passing, I want to point out some wonderful memories of fathers that give me a kick and two giggles to recall sometimes.
The most recent story I heard was about my wife's father, Randy. After he had passed, an old childhood friend posted a Naval picture of himself and Randy on Facebook for us all to see. This prompted my wife, Summer, to ask the man a few questions and a conversation and friendship began between my wife and her father's childhood friend.
Within that conversation the old friend recalled a story of another child who was thown to the ground and being prepped to be beaten by a bigger kid. Randy, a peer to these children, came literally flying parallel to the ground and tackled the big kid off of his buddy. The big kid couldn't catch his breath to save his life. Randy and his buddy dusted off and walked off into the school, probably to catch their own breath from the excitement. Hearing the story was like watching a good movie opening about a coming-of-age child destined to be a great man. And a great man he became.
My father also recalls stories of his childhood that stay with me. One specifically is at a pre-middle school age in class where a bully was picking at my father, Terry. The bully was behind my father at his own desk, repeatedly thumping or hitting Terry. Finally, in a moment of disgust and end-of-witicism (yes I made that up), Terry jumps to his feet and turns with his fist of fury like Bruce Lee in one motion and knocks the bully AND HIS DESK to the floor. Whatever happened with the teacher and being punished I don't remember but afterwards the bully came up to my father in the hallway wanting to fight Terry. Terry said, "I don't want to fight you ..... but I will." The bully walked away. This also sounds like a good movie moment where another great man was in his Genesis.
I also enjoy to hear my mother talk about her dad. You can see and hear that she loved her father, and you can tell that in a hous of four girls, a mother and a son that the father, Richard, was the head of the house. With him passing away at a young age, I get the feeling that it was a bad hit for my mom and her siblings and her own mother.
One story I am fond of is how my mom, Marjorie, had a brother named Rick who made his sister's get into a home-made ring with him and box. Of course, being the eldest and biggest, Rick dominated them. What was worse is that my mother and her sisters did not want to box. They just endured the hits as long as they had to. I don't get the feeling that it was an abusive situation but just that of an elder sibling be annoying. God help me, I know how that is. With this situation at hand, Richard stepped up and said, "You want to box with somebody? Let me get my gloves." On a little side bar, my grandfather, Richard, was in the Navy just like my wife's dad. I am proud to say, he was a golden gloves boxer in the Navy. Now back to the story. It didn't last long, but Richard appropriately and delicately laid Rick on his rump and said without a hitch, "Now leave your sisters alone!"
My father grew up in the 60s and 70s, where Led Zeppelin sang one of their hits "Good Times, Bad Times". I just cannot help but think that my father, my wife's father and my mother's father grew up in a different time where it was good AND bad. To be realistic though, so do I. I am now with child ....errrr ...... I'm not pregnant, I mean I have a 9 month old son. IT IS GREAT!!!!
I have stories. I have good times, bad times, BUT I ALWAYS HAVE MY FUN!!!
One day, I'll tell him about the bully that I slammed on his own head. Maybe my boy, Kai, can recall that story to his child ..... or to his blog.
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