Father's Day

I have one loyal reader who checks to see if there is anything new in my blog. Of course, she's also a friend who would know if anything majorly new happened in my life, but sometimes I blog it just to see if she's checked in! LOL!

So, here goes a new one.

Sunday is Father's Day. We're getting together with my parents & Phil's mom at my parents' house to celebrate tomorrow. That gives us all day Sunday to do our Sunday things. Also, Phil can do what he wants to celebrate on his special day. It also means no rushing to leave church to drive to eat lunch for anyone.

This will be our first year without Bill, or Pop Bill as the girls called him. It has hit me more than Phil, I think, because to Phil every day is just another day. He doesn't get all excited about holidays, apart maybe from Christmas, or a day off that makes it a long weekend. He'd be fine celebrating Christmas on December 18th or January 3rd. He's really not picky. So, I don't think the concept of "FATHER'S DAY" has really hit him. I've looked at pictures & find it hard to really believe he's gone. In the pictures from a year ago, when we had just learned about the cancer, he looks so healthy. Apart from weight loss, even the Christmas pictures looked good. The man we saw lying in the hospital bed was not the same one we saw for years as "Mr. Fix-it" who always was ready to help DO something to help. It never failed that if he went to visit my parents there would be a handy man job to do at some point! He loved being able to help people. He loved taking the girls out on the lake in the boat when he was well. Anytime we were there & it was warm enough he'd ask, "Do you wanna go for a boat ride?" In earlier years he'd take Phil skiing, but in the past few it was pulling grandkids on the tube. There WAS that time a couple of years ago when Grandma (Phil's mom) decided after taking a year off of skiing at age 68, that at age 69 she was ready to do it again. No sooner did they get out in the lake & he revved up the engine, only to find her fallen. She ended up on crutches for a few weeks. That was the same time that Natalie's tooth fell out. Pop Bill thought she had trash in her hand, and threw her tooth in the lake! Not sure how that Tooth Fairy found her way to Nat's pillow that night. In his memorial service, the pastor said that Bill was a "cool Grandpa." He was.

We also get to celebrate my dad tomorrow. My dad grew up without a dad from the age of 4, when his dad died. My dad has a type A personality. It worked out well for him in a household with 3 sisters & a mom! My favorite story about them growing up is the time his little sister told their mom, "Mama, would you tell George he's NOT the PAPPY!" It also prepared him for what would be his future career in management. While he wasn't the pappy, he was the only boy in the family, and I'm sure had to take on some of the roles of the dad in many ways. I also know he got lots of attention. See, when he was little, he got tuberculosis, and was sent to a sanitarium---no, wait, that's where we want to send him NOW---ha, ha! He was sent to a sanitorium for a year. I hear that he was quite the favorite of the nurses. Hmm, I'm guessing he didn't still have that effect last year in the hospital. His is a true "rags to riches" story. Well, at least rags to suburban middle class American story. Born the son of a poor farmer living in a wood shack type house, growing up with a single mom in the days when there WEREN'T single moms, then working his way through college and into management positions in the moving business. He acquired a new title when his grandson was a little boy. One day he called Poppaw "Boss Boss." When asked about this he said, "Well, he's the boss at work and he's the boss at home!" LOL! Poppaw's first granddaughter, Becky, was blessed with this same tendency, so we call her Boss, Jr. Then along came Becky, Jr., Natalie, who is baby boss! Meanwhile, Nils, the grandson, is the least bossy of his grandkids. I suspect Poppaw enjoys that immensely! Tomorrow we'll celebrate him being a dad & a granddad. And while I can't keep the house clean the way he likes it, I can bake up some goodies that I know he will like, so we will spoil him like those nurses of years gone by.

Last, but not least (that is SO cliche!), is the dad in our house. It took a LONG time for him to become a Daddy. He was 39 when Miss Bethany was born. I can tell you that right up to the point of labor, he was still not quite comprehending what this meant. The moment that child was born, he was enamored. Then, when we discovered another baby was on the way, he already hoped for a little girl & had her named! Okay, he had her named when we had Bethany, but had never told me he wanted to name her Natalie! So, that was the first thing he said when we saw the "double line on the stick." Like his dad, he is our Mr. Fix-It. He's also Computer Guy. While he is definitely the stricter of the two of us, he is also the COOL parent. I am just the goofy parent. HE takes them on the fast rides at Six Flags. HE will take them around the block on a motorcycle (only in the country where there is little traffic). HE will take them to the park to play, and will play with them. Yep, he's Mr. Biker Dad, and the girls think that is pretty cool.

For all you dads out there (HA, as if I have this huge base of readers who are dads!), enjoy your special day. For all you who still have your dads, give them a hug & let them know you love them. And for those of you who are missing your dad, remember that we have a Father who will never leave us nor forsake us. That is the best gift of all on Father's Day and every day.