In five weeks from tomorrow, we will be closing on our house. There is now an opportunity in Wisconsin and a couple hours away from where we currently live in Illinois in addition to the opportunity in Colorado. We are still unsure of where we will move.
This morning, I began remembering all kinds of stories about my dad that made me smile, so here are my favorite in no particular order:
1. The infamous "clown" pants- We called them this because they were the most obnoxious bright pair of plaid pants we had ever seen. My mom only allowed him to wear them while working in the garden. There is a reason they were on the clearance rack at K-mart.
2. The "glory" pants- These were a lovely peach colored pair of polyester pants that were at least two sizes too small, thus my dad joked that when he had his perfect body in heaven or "glory", these were the pants he would be wearing.
3. The year of the squash-My dad decided to plant our near acre garden mainly in one variety of squash. Imagine if you will one whole side of our two-car garage heaped up with squash for the majority of the late summer. We still have the lovely sign with "Squash for Sale" stashed in our garage. The demand for squash that year wasn't as high as our production, and most of the squash ended up being donated to a local shelter for the homeless.
4. The year of the dried beans-My dad planted almost the entire garden (again) in several dried bean varieties. My least favorite were crowder peas and october beans. Thirty years later, my mom still has 5 gallon buckets of these babies because they "never go bad".
5. The ubiquitous line of ants leading to my dad's study-My mom was hypoglycemic, and gave up sugar to control this condition. My dad had a huge sweet tooth. There was always a line of ants trailing into my dad's study and leading right up to his file cabinet. He claimed not to know why, but we all knew that he had a secret stash of clearance candy from Halloween, Christmas and Easter all year round.
6. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SVnEwOocP9A&feature=fvwrel-My dad purchased one of these at a rummage sale, and resold at one of our rummage sales when he realized it didn't work.
My favorite memory of my dad that makes me smile are all the trips that we took to Dairy Queen, just the two of us. He loved "turtle" blizzards. He told me never to tell my brother, and I kept my secret very well until today.
What stories make you smile about your dad?
Awww, these are such sweet stories of your dadl! And I think I actually remember the clown pants...maybe from playdates at your house??? It made me smile to think of him in Heaven, sitting at Jesus' feet in his "glory" pants!
ReplyDeleteMy dad has his own version of "clown" pants...his ripped up, patched up bib overalls. My grandma will not go to church with him in even his "best" overalls, and my great-aunt is terrified that when she dies, he will show up to her funeral in his bibs. My mom just smiles and keeps sewing patches on his favorite pair...
Love the story about your dad!!
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