Day 27: My Dad and Me

I love my dad.

It's a good thing, too, because you know how most girls typically turn into their mothers as they get older?  In some ways I am--I walk like her, I have a lot of her mannerisms--but in all honesty, I think I'm turning into my dad. 

There are worse things that could happen.

When I was a little girl, I thought my dad was an author.  I knew he had an amazing ability to draw, so when he would come home with a book (from the book club my mom signed up for), I just knew he'd spent his entire day writing and illustrating it for me.

(Perhaps, just maybe, I might've thought the entire world revolved around my happiness...)

I was most definitely a mama's girl...she was the "lenient parent"...I think it had more to do with the fact that she was around me all the time and knew me better.  Dad was super protective...

"Don't lean on the car door!  It could fly open at any minute and you could fall out!!!"

(Turns out that happened to him as a kid...)

"When you go around this curve, ALWAYS stay on your side of the road."

(This little nugget was given to me in my early driving years regarding a curve on the way to our house. I've had to stop myself from saying it to my husband.  It's good advice.)

"Don't put that straw to your forehead! If you fell you could poke it all the way through your skull to your brain!!"

(Yes, he actually said that.  More than once.)

"It will feel better when it stops hurting."

(I remember the first time he said this to me...I was running through the pasture behind our house and tripped on some tractor attachment that was hidden in the tall grass.  I scraped my knees and bruised my shins and thought it might be the worst pain ever.  And that was how he comforted me.  I actually said that to Jackson just the other day and got a tiny bit of glee from being on the other end of it.)

I understand now that if I'd done some of the crazy things my dad did as a kid--and lived--I'd be a crazy protective parent too.

As I got older, my Dad and I seemed to have more in common than my Mom and I.  It had a lot to do with me being a teenager and Mom and I spending too much time together.  But I also think it has a lot to do with genetics.  Doesn't that determine everything?

Like the fact that my mom hated MASH and Barney Miller and Taxi, but Dad and I loved them.

Or how Dad could keep me captivated for hours talking about the flood and how it created the Grand Canyon. (He can still talk for hours about this.  Just ask him. ;) )

Or how we both thought the lone gunman theory was a bunch of hooey.

Or how I loved hearing his stories about his childhood and how he would roam around Pruitt with his cousins, causing nine kinds of mischief.

I also get a lot of other traits from my dad. 

Like how I would rather talk about anything else than my innermost feelings.  I can count on one finger the number of "deep" discussions we've had.  It was the most uncomfortable hour of both our lives.

Or how when it comes to any sort of project, it's has to be perfect or I won't be able to quit tinkering with it.  If you've ever watched Dad pack for a trip, you know what I'm talking about.  He is the MacGuyver of luggage.  Honestly, he's the MacGuyver of anything broken.  He is not beyond using a piece of string and chewing gum to fix something--and it will be fixed forever.

Or how one of my favorite parts of a vacation is planning it.

Or how despite my inability to verbalize my deepest innermost feelings sometimes, I know my kids know how much they are loved. 

I love you, Dad.