Happy Father's Day

I don't really have any pictures of my dad, unless you want the one with his bloody head from cleaning up after Hurricane Rita so this is one of mom and dad together. . . ok .. that picture is gross so don't look at it if you don't like blood. After the fact, it was funny. Dad was trimming limbs that were on the roof, one popped back and hit him in the head, cut his head and broke a tooth. He tried to send the dentist bill in to FEMA and they wouldn't pay it! He didn't expect them to pay it and was kinda joking about even sending it in but he figured . . what the heck . . it's worth a try. He was showing this picture to everyone and telling them that FEMA wouldn't pay for his damages! Anyway, I called dad to wish him a happy father's day and he had gotten up at 4 a.m. to go to DeQuincy (about 25 or 30 miles from home) to pick four bushels of purple hull peas. Thankfully they have a pea sheller so mom already had them all in the freezer. I think I have the best dad in the world! He honestly knows everything about stuff that matters. When we were growing up, he could solve every problem we ever had. I now know that some of the things I remember about my childhood probably aren't exactly as I remember them. I guess it's that way with most kids. When Chad was probably 7 or 8 and I was a single mom barely surviving, I managed to save enough money to buy season passes to Astroworld in Houston. We could easily drive to Houston, spend the day and then drive back home in one day but I would watch for weekend specials and if I could find a reasonably priced room and if we had leftover cash, I'd get a room and we could go to the theme park for Saturday and Sunday. That summer, we may have gone to Astroworld 5 or 6 times. The other day Chad and I were talking and he said "mom, remember the summer we had season passes to Astrowold and we went EVERY weekend?" So, some of the funny things I remember about my dad may not be as mom and dad remember them but, from my memory, they are:

• We would always go out in the woods for our Christmas tree. Dad would sometimes cut down 2 or 3 small pine trees (that's about all there is in southwest Louisiana that will work for a Christmas tree) and then he'd saw limbs of one and either nail them or tie them to the one tree we were going to use to fill in the uneven spots so we always had a perfect Christmas tree.
• Dad could fix everything. Back when a normal person could work on cars, I came home one day and told him there was something wrong with my Mustang. I couldn't tell him what was wrong but it was definitely something. Going up the I-10 bridge, it just didn't want to go. I told him the best thing I could describe was that the back wheels were trying to catch up with the front ones! He thought about it a minute and decided it needed a tune up . . and that solved it.
• Once we had gone to town, back when Sears was in downtown Lake Charles and dad lost the car keys. I just knew we were going to spend the night on the sidewalk but he opened the hood, hot wired the car and home we went!

Dad is the type dad that never had to tell us twice to do something. He said what he wanted/expected and we knew exactly what he meant. No waivering, no need to whine and beg, no need to sulk .. what he said was how it was going to be. In high school, when skirts were a bit too short and I was one to push the limits, I'd start to leave the house and dad would say "you forgot your skirt!" No use pretending I didn't hear him or didn't know what he meant . . I knew my only options were to change clothes or stay home. I have never seen my dad lose his temper at anyone and I've never heard him say anything mean about anyone. Dad can get along with everyone and he would help anyone in need at any time. I'm pretty lucky to have him for my dad! Judy