Here are a few photos from over the years (I’m currently kicking myself because I completely forgot to take a shot of my dad, my brother, and I this morning after breakfast)…
- My Dad went through a short toupee-wearing phase in the mid-80’s (and would probably kill me if he saw that I posted this 1st photo), and his fashion sense was pretty horrible as well… this was at my brother’s first wedding, at age 17 - it was of the “Shotgun” variety, as his 21 year-old bride was about 6 months pregnant with my oldest nephew (yes, the same nephew who’s now currently living with me!)
- This second pic was taken after my HS graduation, in June 1990. - We had also taken a more “normal” photo first, but for some reason I had only scanned this shot into my computer last year… the three of us hamming-it-up for the camera.
- This third shot was on New Year’s Day 2000… My dad had finally accepted his baldness, and had begun completely shaving his head (many thanks to Stone Cold Steve Austin for making the bald-look “cool” to my dad in the late-90’s), and perfectly enough, he’s wearing the Stone Cold vest that he had just gotten for Christmas the week before!
- Lastly, this was a candid shot taken in 2009 at my dad’s retirement party from work (at the same hospital that I’ve worked at for the past 11 years)… He’s always had the “gift of gab” in social settings.
[I’ve started and scrapped this post so many times today… I’ve written so many MUCH longer drafts today, but none have been able to really say what I want them to, so I think now I’ll just go “short & sweet” so I can finally move past this post…]
My dad and I have had a mostly-great relationship over the years… It’s been complicated, and sometimes up & down but then again what family relationships don’t get that way over 39+ years?!
He was the parent that was most responsible for raising me and my brother. - I look back now and can see how much both his good sides, and bad have shaped me, and have repeated into my own adult life…. I’ve tried to hold on to the good qualities I’ve taken from him, and have tried to learn from his bad ones, and not make some of his same mistakes.
It hasn’t always been easy with us, nobody will ever be there for me as much as he has been in my life, and absolutely nobody will ever be able to piss me off more than he can. - And I truly don’t think I can sum it up any better than that!
