Matty, me and dad
me, matty, david, mom and dad and rachel's fuzzy head
david, a little friend and dad
My dad always smelled like he had just woken up from a long warm nap. Growing up, and especially as an adolescent, I was 90 % positive that he was more entertaining to my friends than I was :) He loved to fix things - especially cars, but since he wasn't always as adept at mechanical things as he wanted to be he used uncanny ability to either make new friends that knew what they were doing or enlist existing friends to spend a saturday at the Raynor ranch helping him out. I am pretty sure the term "jimmy-rig" was coined specifically as an effort to describe his efforts. He always made me work hard - stressing the process more than the outcome. He loved the Baja peninsula, taco trucks, jarache sandals too, his kids and he loved, loved, loved my mom.
When some one has passed on it is easy to forget their flaws but the truth is most of Dad's are just endearing at this point. Like t when some one would call while we were watching a movie together and dad would just carry on a loud conversation for over an hour without leaving the room while we watched the movie. Then he would hang up and make us rewind the whole thing and watch it over with him because he wanted to be with us. Man that used to drive me nuts! Oh, or when I would complain about doing more around the house than my siblings or even him he would look at me and say, "Oh, poor Cinderline..." Also, infuriating to a thirteen year old.
But really, it is his goodness that has been the shaper in my life, not his weaknesses. I miss him so much, maybe even more so now that I know what it is like to be a parent and knowing how much he loved being a dad. So, happy birthday dad!
And of course I couldn't celebrate the 3rd with out thinking of Lucy Lu - happy birthday you gorgeous one year old.
9 comments:
I love the picture of you all in bed together and the story about how he would answer the phone while you were watching movies and then you'd have to rewind the whole thing :-)!
Thanks for sharing some of your favorite memories and feelings about your dad! I bet he just loves to watch you parent from up above. Just think, he was probably the last person to give Tommy a hug and kiss before he joined your family.
I hear that Seth is racking in the Scholarships. Please do share!
Such a sweet post sister.
That was from me.
It's definitely not the mustache, but I can see where you got some of your good looks from that first picture! Thanks for the sweet post. It's neat to know your dad a little better. Your mom and you and your siblings are so strong. Good thing for the resurrection.
Thanks for making me all teary Caroline- lets just chalk it up to toooooo many hormones in my body right now.
That was so sweet. I was happy to see you were also put through the torture of sleeping with those pink rollers.
Great memories...thanks for letting us know what he was like a little more.
That's a nice post. And the phone story is a classic! Maybe you can do that to your kids, just so they could know what it would be like if their Grandpa was there! hehe ;)
Wow! I was hunting for pic's for papa's 80th and came accross this blog....so sweet I remember so well....tears flowed...i have loved looking through your blog...what fun and little tommy is adorable.
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