Happy Father’s Day – In Tribute To My Father
Every child should be fortunate and blessed enough to have a loving father. I certainly was. People often think it so important that little boys have their father and of course that is true. But it is equally important for little girls to have their fathers present. After all, a little girl learns how to be a woman from her mother, but she practices with her daddy.
My father was the first man I ever loved. He was my cheerleader, my example and my hero. He set the standard for the kind of man I would one day hope to marry. He was smart, kind, fun loving, hard working, honest, loyal, patient, a servant to others, and Godly. If he sounds like a Boy Scout it is because he was. He was actually an Eagle Scout as a boy and later a Major in the U.S. Marine Corp. He was valedictorian of his graduating class in high school. Did I mention he was very smart?
It always seemed to me as a child that he knew just about everything and if he didn’t know something, he knew how to figure it out, and this is before Siri and Google existed. He was an avid reader and could speak very knowledgeably about any subject that might come up. He also loved to read to my children when they were little. They, like their mommy, loved their granddaddy.
I don’t remember my mother ever asking him to do anything that he balked at or refused to do and he always seemed happy to do it for her or anyone else who asked him for help. He was never “too busy” though as an adult I realize just how busy he often was, but he never made me feel that I was inconveniencing him when I asked him for anything.
When he came home from work, no matter how tired he might have been, before dinner he always took time to play with me and my brothers as though he had just been waiting all day to get the chance to play with us.
On summer nights we would sit and play cards listening to the Dodger games being played on the radio with the sound of Vin Scully’s voice filling our living room. I still never hear Vinny call a game without thinking of Daddy and those warm lovely summer nights. He taught me to love baseball because he loved it so much. And anything he loved I knew must be good.
At the 7th inning stretch, every night, he would take our drink orders and drive down the street to the Foster’s Freeze and buy each of us a milkshake and usually be back by the time the game resumed. We drank our milkshakes and cheered on our team.
If you asked me what my father really loved doing I would have to tell you he loved watching or listening to baseball (most specifically Dodger baseball), he loved the Lord and reading his Bible (I can still see him in his chair reading his Bible late at night as I would go off to bed), and he loved ice cream, he actually loved making ice cream.
Ice cream is one of those things that always reminds me of my father. My mother was the chief cook in our family but my father was the homemade ice cream maker. Like clock work starting with Memorial Day and all summer long until we went back to school after Labor Day we had delicious homemade ice cream on a regular basis. Though he experimented from time to time with different flavors, lemon vanilla* was his specialty. Actually I think he always used my mother’s Aunt Mary’s recipe but he had it down and it was DELICIOUS! When I was really little we had the old fashioned hand crank style ice cream freezer and he would let us all take a turn churning that sweet yummy milk and cream mixture into that slushy cold goodness called ice cream.
So this past Friday, our Two Chums post, Cookies And Cream For Dad, was really my little way of remembering and honoring my father. It was Father’s Day 16 years ago that was the last meal I enjoyed with him. We had been away and were just returning late in the day and almost didn’t make it in time to go to dinner but something told me we really needed to make it there and I am so glad we did. Daddy had a massive heart attack on July 4th and left our earthly presence only a few days later on July 15, 1999.
But the truth is he is still here…still very present in my heart and soul. In my head I can often hear what I know he would say to me in a given situation. He is with me everyday in a hundred different ways. And never more than when I hear Vin Scully call the Dodger’s game, or spend time with the Lord and read my Bible, or eat a scrumptious bowl of ice cream. Today I plan to do all three of those things.
Happy Father’s Day Daddy…thank you for being my first love, my biggest cheerleader and my hero. I love you to heaven and back.
* Keep visiting Two Chums. Aunt Mary’s ice cream recipe that Daddy loved to make will be appearing here soon 🙂
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This certainly brought tears to my eyes. I have been missing my father a lot lately and know how you are feeling.
To Mr. Bob Pickles, and all those favorite father’s of little and big girls, Happy Father’s Day and remembering them as happy fathers.
Your father was a wonderful man Wendy..A great dad who loved you dearly and a great Uncle to me. And speaking of uncles, Mr. Bob Pickles loved you dearly too 🙂
Beautiful remembrance….brought tears to my eyes as I think of my own dad as well today. Here’s to all the wonderful dads, baseball & ice cream!
I can’t think of your father without smiling or even laughing right out loud at seeing him dance. So many sweet and happy memories of these dear men we love so much 🙂
I love this!!! What a sweet tribute to Granddaddy!
Thank you honey. He would be so very proud of you and love your girls the way he loved mine 🙂
What a lovely remembrance of a truly lovely man. The overriding tone of my memories of your father (my Uncle Bob) are gentleness and patience. I don’t think I ever heard him raise his voice or seem aggravated or impatient. He was such a kind man – a wonderful father…and uncle <3 PS – I also loved the hand-cranked lemon vanilla ice cream!
You held a special place in his heart Bettye. He would be thrilled to know you feel this way <3
What a precious gift your father was to you. Thank you for sharing
your wonderful memories.
Thank you Nancy. You are so right, he was a gift in so many many ways and in fact still is 🙂
A beautiful remembrance and a fitting tribute to my Dad and all fathers who are no longer with us. How short our time together but how precious the memories. Thank you for everything…RIP.
Thank you Vilma. Our time seems to short indeed but those memories we hold in our hearts are very sweet.
Thank you Vilma. Our time seems to short indeed but those memories we hold in our hearts are very sweet.
Oh I’m crying he was a good Dad! And a great grandfather I miss him so much!
What a beautifully written tribute to your Dad, Robin. I thoroughly enjoyed reading it. Sandi Brune
Thank you Sandi. So good to hear from you.
The sweetest tribute to your wonderful Dad! I really enjoyed reading it and thinking of my dear, dear Dad too!
Oh what a dear and sweet man Jay was and is still to all of us lucky enough to have known him 🙂
Dear, darling Robin,
I’m sorry it took me an extra day to read your post but I have done so this morning and I am so moved by it that I wanted to cry. I feel as though I’d known your dear dad.
How grateful I am that you shared this post about him. It has moved me greatly. And to think you’ve married a fine man just like your dad!
With warm love from your faithful subscriber,
Dick Horner
How dear you are Dick. I wish you had known Daddy too. He would have loved talking with you and hearing your stories and all your knowledge. And you are right that I was given the gift of not only a wonderful father but a very fine husband as well 🙂