A few days ago, Ally, from The Spectacled Bean (why I kept seeing Speckled instead of Spectacled, is beyond me, and I apologize, Ally), shared some quirky deets about her father. This was inspired by her watching the last season of Grace and Frankie (which I loved, too), in particular, the Paprikash episode where Grace reconnects with her long-lost brother on false pretenses because she has a hankering for chicken paprikash and desperately wants the family recipe which her brother knows off by heart. He never got a chance to know their father and wants Grace to share her memories. Grace doesn’t want to because it hurts too much. Her brother comes to realise that he is not there because Grace has missed him and goes to leave but Frankie, in true Frankie fashion, finds a way for him to stay. With every memory Grace shares, he gives her an ingredient.
Quite the intro to the raison d’être of this post, eh? I purposefully waited until today, Father’s Day, to share my list. I was lucky enough to have him until I was 49, unlike 15 for Ally. To think my kids were 15 and 16 when they lost theirs. Sigh.
So, without further ado, here are ten things about my dad
1️⃣ He was thrilled to be mistaken for Captain Picard – it’s hard to get a picture because Dad always smiled with his teeth, while Sir Patrick smiles closed-mouthed… During the Pandammit, when Patrick Stewart read the Shakespearean sonnets, shared on FB and Twitter, I kept being taken aback. They have many facial expressions that matched; it was uncanny.
2️⃣ He loved to listen to the Boston Pops on Sunday nights – we really think it was to annoy the shit out of Mom more than love of the music.
3️⃣ He loved Rod Stewart’s “Do Ya Think I’m Sexy” and would dance around in his goofy way, while clicking his tongue to the beat.
4️⃣ He insisted on setting a nice table, using bowls for ketchup and other condiments – do NOT even think of putting a bottle of ketchup on the table!
5️⃣ After he died, we found a penny in every single coat pocket because he always kept the ones he found, saying they were Pennies from Heaven, from his grandson, Austin.
6️⃣ He did a 180° flip from saying how much he paid for stuff to how little. Having been raised on welfare, he planned on having more than enough one day – and did, which he was so proud of and flaunted. Then he got older and wiser and realised that saving a buck was nothing to be ashamed of – which, of course, he now went on and on about.
7️⃣ He excelled at playing the overseer when construction projects were underway at any of our houses 😏 Though, in fairness, he was very adept at putting hammer to nail as well.
8️⃣ He always dressed well. Loved looking sharp, whether casual or formal.
9️⃣ He was a natural artist. One day, he decided to paint. So he did. He sold most of his paintings, too. And then he stopped. I guess I take after him for that – losing interest after a while…
Painting Dad made for me
🔟 He had no regrets, he said. Had a wonderful life and stood behind all his choices. When he wanted something he went for it. It took him years to finally get a sailboat. Until it was a reality, sail magazines graced the house all over the place, top of the toilet, night stand, living room table. I think it was a sort of vision board exercise.
I’m sure so many other things will come to mind once I press publish, but like Dad, I’ll stand behind my choices. Thank you again, Ally, for inspiring me to write this post.
Memories were now evoked of the times my mother made for us, and that I later made for my kids, hot chocolate, using real cocoa from the yellow and red Fry’s can, sugar, and a small amount of cold milk to create a smooth, mud-like texture before slowly adding the hot milk while stirring it all together. No lumps guaranteed if you make it this way. Sometimes there were marshmallows, most times not. Mom wasn’t into instant anything, except Minute Rice, but that was only for her rice salad, never anything else.
A Dalectable Life 