Happy Father's Day, Dad......you've been gone for 19 years, but you will never be gone from my heart and mind. I see you in your grandson's stance and the way he jiggles his change in his pocket when he walks, like you used to.... I see you in his brother's dark brown eyes. I see you next to Mom though you're not really there. I hear your voice somewhere in mine when I sing. I hear your wisecracks and truly terrible puns when I make my own! I think of you when I get a Double Jeopardy question (or answer) right...remember how we'd call each other? You should be here for the birth of your first two great-grandsons this month and next. I will miss you till the day I die.To my readers: Please share a special memory of your dads..
And HAPPY FATHER'S DAY to my wonderful geeeeZ friends who are dads......
To young fathers who might read this: Make sure you earn the respect of your children; you'll be doing yourself a favor but you'll be doing your children a bigger, even huge, favor.
"Discipline your son, and he will give you peace; he will bring delight to your soul." Proverbs 19:17
God bless you.
Z
26 comments:
My dad has the sweetest way of showing his love and support. He sends cards. Really good, thoughtful cards! I keep them all, of course.
Z - I always remember the way my dad whistled and sang to himself and I know he did it no matter what the circumstances were. He had a positive outlook on life - even when things were surely not positive.
I have such good memories of him.
Have a great Sunday - Z.
It being Sunday Faith Post:
A number of years ago, my dad came down with congestive heart disease and was told he only had about 6 months to live.
At the urging of his wife and Scherie, I started taking him out to breakfast on Saturday mornings.
We prayed for God to heal him and extend his life.
We did the Saturday morning (and afternoon) thing for six years instead of six months.
I would occasionally attempt to get him to accept God's offer of salvation and was rebuffed.
A short while before he died, he was out in his shop getting a tool and his wife asked me if I was okay with the thought of my dad passing.
I told her that my only concern was for his soul.
She told me to ask him about that again, and I told her I didn't want to upset him.
He came in the house and she told him that I had a concern about his approaching departure (geez, the guy was still walking and talking and working in his shop) so he asked me and I told him.
That's when he told me that he had asked Jesus to forgive him of his sins and accept him into heaven, did I have any more questions?
I pressed a bit to assure myself I understood him right and then the three of us prayed.
A couple months later, he went to the hospital and they brought him home to die.
My brother and I held him (attempting to sit him up in his favorite chair) as he passed, quietly, peacefully surrounded by family that had assembled.
I see him in my grandson and others say they see him in me.
Jen, what an amazing guy he is...You have a treasure in those cards you keep; what a blessing.
Sue, I admire people who have such positive outlooks; I do think they're born with them and, if not, if they work at it, I'm in total admiration. I'm SO glad you have such good memories of your dad.
Ed...that made me teary-eyed. Six YEARS instead of six MONTHS! WOW.
And those prayers bore such fruit. You must have been delighted when he told you that.
I have two friends who had THE crustiest, most resistant husbands you could ever imagine when it came to ANYTHING let alone surrendering to Christ. These men were about 80 when they died...and came to Christ literally 3 or 4 days before they finally passed....their stories of how that happened really are touching because they'd been so dismissive about their wives' faith for YEARS and years.
HAPPY FATHER'S DAY to all the Dads here at Geeeeez!
I have wonderful memories of my Dad. He took me deep sea fishing so he and I could spend a fun time together. My sis didn't want to go fishing, so he took her with him to go rock hunting, she did like that.
I realized somewhat later, he wanted to have a special time with each of us.
Whenever he introduced us to someone, he'd puff up with pride. It was so obvious that he loved us both, and he always took the time to teach us if we asked him about anything. Dad had a great sense of humor too.
He passed away in 1974, and I'll always miss him. I'm so grateful to have had a father who cared so much about his girls.
Didn't really have a father, not one that I remember anyway.
Perhaps in part because of that....I try to be the best Dad that I can, to my amazing daughters.
Best Fathers Day song going away
Performed by a national treasure.
Spent some time with my daughter. It was memorable.
Need to rest more. I was watching the
News and it seems like there is a huge Mr Beamish rally in Turkey. I could swear I heard gas mask clad people chanting Read the Crankfiles
and light beer.
I miss my dad too Z.............but HAPPY DADS DAY TO ALL THE AMAZING FATHERS OUT THERE!! XOXOX
@Ducky:
Thanks...
CI, I've seen it work both ways; some who haven't had fathers don't have a clue about how to BE one, others who don't have fathers go out of their way to be good ones. I'm glad you're one of those.
My dad had a batch of girls; I only never tell how many when I'm relating some family story for anonymity sake. All girls.
John Prine; very cool singer. That might be the most unimaginative melody I have ever heard, but the words are so sweet.
Beak; I doubt it.
Z,
My dad's been gone five years (hard to believe). I learned so much from him, mostly by example. He taught me to go about life with quiet dignity. He taught me that a man took care of his family above everything else, even personal ambition.
He taught me what real love was about because we knew he loved our mother and we knew he loved us. He was a man who was raised in an orphanage who somehow knew that he could raise a family with love and that would take care of everything.
My mom missed him dearly. She died last year and now they're together where she wanted to be.
My dad taught me to love my country and I followed his example by going into the military. That's what my dad taught me.
I miss him everyday.
My pleasure, IMP.
L&O; your dad was obviously a very great man.
I think that when a couple stays in love/respect, the kids benefit SO MUCH. I suppose that goes without saying but I'm not sure about that. I just know it's true.
Thanks for sharing that; makes me long for the men of yesterday. Thank God there are a few left and I know quite a bit of them :-)
Fathers are an awesome source of strength.
Happy Father's Day, Z. I know yours is watching over you.
My father passed in 96. He too whistled wherever he went...in the car....all the time. He loved country music...the old stuff. He would have hated the new pop stuff and probably would say he's better off not having to listen to it. He also used to rub his thumb and forefinger together. Don't know why..haha. Mostly I remember his courage while suffering with cancer and successfully overcoming his alcoholism. He had a quick wit. Once while leaving an over the hill birthday party for my wife's 30th, (he was suffering from his cancer and used a walker)...I asked him if it was true that women hit their peak in their 30s. Without missing a beat and continuing on his way out the door, he said, "How do you think I got to be this way?".
Z
You must be right real Mr B followers would never drink light beer or walk around without a bucket of Lee's fried chicken.
I didn't see any gasmasked impostors holding buckets of fried chicken. These fake Beamish fans must be stopped.
I never lost as much but twice --
And that was in the sod --
Twice have I stood a beggar
Before the Door of God.
Angels twice descending
Reimbursed my store.
Burglar -- Banker -- Father!
I am poor once more.
~ Emily Dickinson (1830-1886)
Years and years ago my mother and father and I watched Julie Harris in the televised production of The Belle of Amherst -- the one-woman play in which Miss Harris portrays the poet at various stages in her life. My father had been gravely ill since having had a stroke at the age of 44. By the time we saw this play must have been in his early sixties.
At one point in the nearly two-hour monologue Miss Harris, as Emily Dickinson, speaks of her father and says something like "Poor father! He died before he ever had a chance to live."
At that my own dear father, usually a stoic, undemonstrative person, burst into tears and started to weep uncontrollably.
I was terribly shocked. I had never seen him cry before -- not ever -- it was something men just did not do in father's time.
It was an odd, unsettling moment to be sure, but I don't think I had ever felt closer to my dad before than I did during this incident. All at once I understood how much he had suffered, how much he had sacrificed for my mother and me, and how little credit we had given him for it. I had taken it all for granted -- until then.
After that I grew much closer to my dad, and we spent the last few years before he died at the age of 69 much closer and more helpful to each other than before. Those few years made up for much that had been lacking earlier in our relationship.
He had been trained from birth never to show his feelings. Because of that I never knew he loved me -- until we experienced that play together.
Perhaps now you will understand why Emily Dickinson has played such an important part in my life?
God works in mysterious ways, indeed.
Hi, Brooke! Tell Mr. Brooke HAPPY DAY from me! Good to see you xx
Elbro, I love that story about your father! SO good..what a wit!
Beak...I think to follow poor Beamish these days, one needs more than light beer. :-)
Thanks for that, FT...I know your folks were fine people from the way you talk about them
Along FT's line:
NeoNecon posted a Robert Hayden poem:
THOSE WINTER SUNDAYS
Sundays too my father got up early
and put his clothes on in the blueblack cold
then with cracked hands that ached
from labor in the weekday weather made
banked fires blaze. No one ever thanked him.
I’d wake and hear the cold splintering, breaking.
When the rooms were warm, he’d call,
and slowly I would rise and dress,
fearing the chronic angers of that house.
Speaking indifferently to him,
who had driven out the cold
and polished my good shoes as well.
What did I know, what did I know
of love’s austere and lonely offices?
Ed, that is REALLY gorgeous...wow.
So much selflessness never gets thanked. I think it does, somewhere, though.
Z, Dad
I think of my dad every time I pick up a tool, or do some kind of manual labor. I think of him every time I see something stupid going on around me and can't stop myself from screaming BS! aloud or otherwise.
I'm glad he is not around to witness the destruction of the country he fought 4 long hard years during WWII to preserve.
Kid, that is one of the best posts I've ever seen on any subject.
I can't read it enough. I LOVE the things your dad did with you guys! He taught you to be men, to have confidence, to feel you could do ANYTHING.....
You were very lucky.
It has to be hard that they're all gone now. Rips my heart out to read that. You were blessed.
Z, Thank you.
Looking back, I'm sure he knew that WWII wasn't the war to end all wars just as WWI wasn't. He wanted to make sure we were on the path of manhood, and most of all to make sure we had some big time fun in the meantime. We did. I think he did a wonderful job balancing those two things.
And we did a lot more than he'd of liked, haha. But Cest la vie. Can't have it all.
There was so much more as you can imagine, but these are days that are pretty much gone now for the overwhelming majority of kids.
Man, like TSWS said in a prior post, where are tomorrows soldiers? Especially given the Huge Demoralization Agendas going on in the military lately.
This is a big problem.
Kid..I've said that, too "Who ARE tomorrow's soldiers?" ...kids whose TBall games don't allow a WINNER? Kids whose softball games don't keep score but just give 10 minutes a team so nobody feels badly? Kids who are being raised feeling the country owes THEM something? Kids who don't know our history? etc etc?
A REAL PROBLEM.
Thanks, Leftwingers.
Post a Comment