I Miss My Dad

[James 3528]

That's about it. Could write all day but it would be the same.

[caosesvida]

yup.

[ct2]

sure wish I could see my dad again

[hvac r us 2]

You guys are killing me, I have not spoke to my Dad in almost 5 years.

Oddly enough, as time goes on I forget about him more and more...it's sort of sad.

Stubbornness is a family trait I guess...

[RoBoTeq]

Mines in pretty bad shape. Not something I want to think about, but thanks for making me do just that.

[James 3528]

Sure..ummmm Sleep until Monday.

[James 3528]

Originally posted by hvac r us 2
You guys are killing me, I have not spoke to my Dad in almost 5 years.

Oddly enough, as time goes on I forget about him more and more...it's sort of sad.

Stubbornness is a family trait I guess...

No one gets to pic their family. Sometime healing something like this if it can be creates benefits you never thought of. It is never too late while you have a chance

[dec]

I have done my best to spend as much time as I can with my dad being I know that I will regret that I didnt when he is gone and I cant see him anymore. I feel bad that I dont have the patients I should with him being he is 86 and looks at things his way and only his way on a lot of things. What do I have to complain about that ....Im the same way only a lot of times we are not agreeing on the way we are looking at it. I know when his is not around to argue with that I will probably regret not having the patients with him that I should have had but then thats me, I try but after so many years of dealing with customers and employees my patience are kinda shot. Everyone tells me Enjoy them while they are here being you cant when they are gone. I believe that.

[hvac r us 2]

Originally posted by James 3528

Originally posted by hvac r us 2
You guys are killing me, I have not spoke to my Dad in almost 5 years.

Oddly enough, as time goes on I forget about him more and more...it's sort of sad.

Stubbornness is a family trait I guess...

No one gets to pic their family. Sometime healing something like this if it can be creates benefits you never thought of. It is never too late while you have a chance

I know it, I have been thinking a lot about the situation as of late. It is just hard to pick up the phone now...

Wait a second, what is this a "Dear James" column?

What happened to the James that would have said "F"em? lol

[James 3528]

I did a F'em just 5 minutes ago. But never with family.....don't go against the family Joey.

[James 3528]

BTW

The F'em went to Merrill Lynch.


Fee me to death Merrill Lynch.

What a bunch of crooks!

[gruntly]

I am one of the truly lucky ones.

My Father raised me while My mother was in and out of hospitals from the time I was 4 until I married. All in all he's an ex Navy who allowed self discipline to run his life. He allowed himself some vices but never any extremes. I've seen him slightly tipsy only once in my life when I was 17, he smoked a little, B&H usually, but never allowed it to control him. He quit again 20 years ago and hasn't had one since.

Always concerned about the mechanics of his body, but without vanity. He was a 5'8" cross country runner who won many races before and after entering the Navy, A chess scholar as far as I was concerned, took me fishing and camping, taught me self reliance and resourcefulness. All on a meagre middle income wage as a printer turn office employee of Moore Business Forms in Toronto. Has his name on patents, has delt with many bigwigs from coast to coast to coast. Spent plenty of time travelling for the company from Houston to Buffalo, east to west.

He raised my 8 year elder brother and 5 year elder sister as well. All three of us have turned out good solid citizens, loyal to our families and friends. My father is 78 this year. My mother died almost 4 years ago. In that time I have become much closer to my father even though he lives 50 miles away. I am the closest living relative to him. I see the vulnerability laying in as his independence ebbs. He would like to move, I think, but doesn't have the strength to bring himself to leave the old house. He has an old Golden Retriever mental case dog that acts as his dependent.

Dad was diagnosed with prostate cancer in the 90s and underwent radio, driving himself the 40 miles back and forth to the hospital 3 times a week for 6 weeks. I know he felt like crap. But it introduced him to another life and that is the life of a volunteer. He now spends a great deal of time with other men who underwent and who are undergoing prostate treatment through his local Us-Too Prostate group. He is the treasurer of the group. Honest to a fault as I see my father.

It is Father's Day on Sunday and my wife has something cooked up for me. But tomorrow, Saturday, I am giving to my father. She will go to her father's, but I am taking down dinner, ribs, asparagas, cheese sauce and tater wedges and dad and I will have a beer or 2, eat and settle in for one of his old movies or whatever he has recently bought. Out of 52 Saturdays and Sundays in a year, he usually has dinner with us 40-45 of them.

Not all fathers could be as virtuous as mine. For that I am sorry. He himself came from a broken home in the 1930s. His mother lived with a man for 40 years after that. Scandelous of the day.

He immigrated from England in 1953 and overcame his mother's past. My own mother told me of a conversation they had when they were on the boat. Making reference to his past life, he looked at her after the first day at sea and said, "Finally, we are truly free." He has passed on his traits that all his children embrace...his 9 grandchildren are just learning his ways though us.

[frigetater]

I know what you mean James. I miss mine too. And our children will miss us also one day.