Father's Day a day late

Yesterday was not only Father's Day around here, but Son's 18th birthday. With two boys to celebrate, Father's Spin is a day late....

but here we go.

We lost my Dad on December 28th, 2003.

Here are some highlights of his life and fatherhood.

Things I remember...

I was the Tomboy of three daughters. Dad went quail hunting every year and when I was old enough he took me with him. I was the Labrador he never had and he would have me run through the brush to scare up the birds. At the end of the day, he would set up tin cans for me to shoot at for target practice. I loved it and that little 410 rifle he brought for me to use, but I never wanted to shoot at any living creature. The rifle used to belong to my grandmother and she told me when they lived in Texas, before they moved to LA, my grandfather bought her that to shoot the chickens with because she did not have it in her to wring their necks.

When we lived at the mobile home park in Malibu in the late 1960's, dad and I were early risers and would go fishing on the pier on weekend mornings and bring back perch to fry up for breakfast. He taught me how to bait my hook and clean my own fish. Later, when he would want to sleep in, I would head on down by myself and fish in the early mornings.

Skip ahead 20 years and you would find my dad coming to visit me in Hawaii. Once he went out to the nightclubs with me and my friend and sat at the bar drinking while we ran around and danced. My friend and I would come back to the bar to have a drink with him and he would always buy our drinks. One night, a man sitting by him on the bar told him to not let young women use him that way. Dad shook his head and said, "that's my daughter mister. You've got the wrong idea."

My grandparents moved from Texas to LA before my dad was born. He grew up in LA and joined the military during his senior year of high school in 1942 to support the war effort. When he came back, he went to work in the studios as a negative editor and worked his way up to film editor. He claimed to hate the film business and all its pretentiousness. He always thought he wanted a country life and longed to move to central California. Which he finally did when he retired.

Turned out he was more of a city boy than he realized and he was never satisfied with his retired life. I imagine it's like that for a lot of people. You do not appreciate the normal until it is too late.


Remember, you can click on a photo to see it bigger.

1953

1964

1963

1971

1963

19... 84....

1983 Hawaii

Happy Father's Day Dad. Rest in Peace. Love you.

For more Father's Day Spin, head on over to Sprite's Keeper.