Father's Day

I have been one of those lucky people who had a great daddy and have a great husband. I had a Big Daddy and a Grandfather. My Big Daddy died when I was very young, but I have a few fond memories of him. One I remember most was sitting in his side yard with him in a double adirondack chair. He was telling me about the bugs that kept getting on his hibiscus. They were eating the leaves and he had tried everything, but they just kept coming back. I watched him intently as he smoked his pipe and curled his brows in frustration. A rather strange conversation for a seven year old to remember. I hope I came up with some wonderful advise for him, but I really didn't care what he was saying, I was just happy to be with him. Big Daddy was around 6'4" tall. He had extremely long legs that me and all of the other cousins wrapped themselves around as he walked. My Big Daddy died when I was 9 and I really missed our talks and walks around the garden. My dad's father was my Grandfather. He was quite elderly even when I was a child. I remember walks around his property at Penney Farms. He would talk about how he came here with his family to farm and nothing would grow in the sandy soil. He would tell me about my daddy being such a fantastic ball player. I don't really remember to much else except our visits to see him and my Grandmother's house were not very frequent. My daddy was the kind of Dad kid's dream about. I think it was because he too was a kid. He had a way of making fun out of everything. Raking grass was a chore, but sitting back and burning them was awesome. We would take our sticks and stir the leaves and sometimes your stick would catch on fire. Mama would come out and tell him to not let us play with fire and Daddy would act like he was fussing at us and when Mama would go back inside we go back to stirring. Daddy was spontaneous. He would say let's go to Georgia at 10:00 at night or let's go to Miami on a Fri. night and we would be packed up and on the road the next morning. On Saturday nights when he would come home from work and we would be waiting for him. He always came in and threw a bag full on penny candy on the floor and me and my brother Rick would scramble to gather in our booty. He loved to just sit outside on a night with the full moon and tell me about the moon ball. On Christmas after we went to bed he would see what my mom had bought for us and it was never enough. He would get in his truck and head back to the store where he worked open it up and pick up a few more things that he thought we couldn't live without. Daddy loved the beach and a few times he picked me up from school like he was taking me to a doctors appt. and we headed for the pier at Flagler Beach and go fishing. Fishing while everyone else was in Algebra, wow, what a great dad. After I got married and had the kids, he would sometimes show up at my house at 7:00 on a Sunday morning to pick up the kids and take them for a ride in the woods. They loved it and they would always come home with a bag on candy and some outrageous tale.Daddy would take all the grandchildren to the railroad tracks at the back of their property and they would put pennies on the tracks and wait for the train to run over them. He took them all on rides on the riding lawn mower to all of our objections. My Daddy died of cancer. It was so bad in was untreatable. It was hard to watch that carefree, fun person disappear before our eyes. We were with him at the end, we held his hands until he was on that beautiful trip to paradise. I look forward to seeing him again. My husband Bill is a wonderful dad. So different than my dad. Bill is the responsible one in our family. I think I am the wild child like my daddy and he had to be the adult. He takes care of us all. We know that he is always there for us no matter what. He is the one that makes sure that the coffee pot, the iron, and anything that will catch on fire is off before we leave our house. I never worry about stuff like that. He is the person we lean on,the one we count on. He is the one who gave the lectures that no one listened to until all of the sudden the problem that he told us about actually happened. He worries way to much and maybe we should worry about things a little more so he can just have fun. He deserves to have some fun and today he is having some. He is out at the Golf Course with his sons and grandsons. The girls and I are headed to the Country Club pool and we will all spend the afternoon together. He is a wonderful Dad! God you have blessed me with the Daddy I needed and you have blessed my kids with the one they needed. They both were and are special men!