Tell Us Something Good About Your Dad

blueunicorn6 | 6/21/15 | blueunicorn6

[blueunicorn6]

My Dad taught me how to drive a car with a manual transmission.

"Let the clutch out slower next time."

[surrey]

Your dad sounds a lot like mine. I’ve always thought he was one of the smartest people I’ve ever know. He was an engineer and a math genius. Unfortunately, as hard as he tried to tutor me, math just wasn’t my strong suit.
He was a devout conservative and just a wonderful human being.

[Hot Tabasco]

Mine never once saw me play in a little league baseball game as a kid, or a racquetball tournament or a softball game as an adult.............

In fact I remember the very last time we golfed together and the last time I ever picked up a club and he attempted to give me some advice. He said "Can I give you some advice?" I said no thanks dad just let me play. His response was "well f##k you then"........ He was a good guy tho.........

[miss marmelstein]

Sounds exactly like mine! My father only once lost his temper while trying to get math into my brain. I had to run into the bathroom and hide! My mother came to the rescue, lol. Poor man, probably had a tough day at work and came home to a little pin head.

[Sequoyah101]

Did not want to start something that looked like “I’ll give you that and raise you another one” but we all seem to have so much in common from our Father’s. Most of them who are nearly revered in these pages were WWII vets and by that also veterans of the Depression. These and most of their peers were outstanding to grow up with. I see the kids today that I work with floundering for role models.

Virgil... like your Dad, mine helped a lot of people and my Mom backed him up. He would pick up men on the highway in the winter for a good night’s sleep, a hot bath and a meal then take them to the bus station next morning and send them on their way. Dad lived on the road a lot during the Depression.

Oldmissileer... Dad taught us that a promise is a promise and you work your way through hard times and that we almost all have them.

Lorianne... Dad made his last garden on his hands and knees and delivered vegetables to shut-ins on his motorcycle carrying them in the side car.

Aliska... Dad was also a civil engineer with the Corps. We grew up building dams and stuff. The two men may have known each other. Dad was area engineer on the Upper Arkansas.

The lists of admirable similarities goes on. I said I thought every body grew up like we did and found that only a few have. Some of you are here. I wish that others could have known the great Dads some of us had. I know the world would be a better place for that.

[Twinkie]

My Dad was in the Army Infantry; in combat in N. Africa, Sicily, Italy & finally Germany during WWII. He was never the same; but he got up, dusted himself off & went to work for us after the war. He used to say, “War is Hell.” That’s about all he ever said about it; couldn’t talk about it. He did say, “It’s the old man’s “war”; it’s the young man’s “fight”!” - He was a good father.

[tony549]

Best thing my Dad ever did for me and my sibs was to get married here in the USA and bring us into the world as US citizens; we hit the jackpot! He’s from China, came here after WW2 to be educated to be a surgeon, and then went back to Hong Kong to hang his shingle. He’s well into his 80’s and still practices as a surgeon with hands that are still steady as a rock, but a well earned retirement is in the works this year. He has his flaws but he’s my Dad and I’ll always honor him. I should visit him more often.

[BunnySlippers]

My Dad. A long story.

I love you, Dad Happy Father’s Day!

[savage woman]

My Dad,
Taught me how to smile in 1957...
but later on in teen years -
reminded me you can’t get by
in life with just a smile.
I disagreed.
Because you could be left with nothing...
and if you smile at someone
it brightens their day and yours.
Grew up with a Democrat Dad - diagnosed as Bi-Polar.
Tough life for him.
He’s been in a slump for months - unable to get out
of bed. But he crawled his way over to my house today
for Fathers Day. Because he knew - he would be
uplifted by my smile. Love you Dad.
Also taught: driving a stick, tennis, dancing the twist
to the Beatles on the Ed Sullivan Show(stayed up late!!),
bike riding, swimming, golf, Music(Moody Blues)...

[Axenolith]

Pops is the granite this xenolith was an inclusion of. Decorated helicopter pilot who apparently considered lead to be just another component of air at one time. Rooted me in hunting and shooting, put up with my foibles, managed to never kill any of my sisters boyfriends. All around standup man who has managed to not get any DC stuck on him after working there post Army career.

I’m batting 1000 if I manage to be able to look over the rim of his and his father and father-in laws shoes when I get old.

Hats off to Dad’s and here’s to hoping we all can make them proud!

[Impy]

Anything?

[GOPsterinMA]

Let me think...

He took me to see “The Empire Strikes Back” and passed out drunk as soon as the lights dimmed.

Because of that, I missed his commentary on “...what a piece of s**t...” he would have called the movie.

And as a bonus, there were no car accidents either going or getting home.

My Uncle jokes with me once in a while if I want to go to the cemetery to see him (he’s not at the same cemetery as Mom). I always reply that I don’t have to go #2.

[virgil283]

"like your Dad, mine helped a lot of people"

You are right SEQ. That generation grew up in a time of great hardships and learned to practice loving kindness whenever they could.

Dad always helped people who could never repay him or return a favor. When he passed, the funeral home was packed for three hours and they all spoke highly of him.

..... PS. (I look like him now and people stop me and say "you're Eric's boy"....There's no higher praise.)

[Georgia Girl 2]

“My Dad taught me how to drive a car with a manual transmission.”

Oh God I can’t believe you said that. My Dad taught all of us how to drive and by the way we are Irish so it was yelling all the way. I have hysterical memories of it.

My Dad was the greatest role model any kid could have had growing up. He was the doctor when we were kids. The glowing cigarette on the tick (remember that one) the pocket knife to take out the splinter, the string to pull out the loose tooth. Remember “don’t pull it til I’m ready Dad”?

When we were really sick and remember when I was a kid there was no health insurance Dad was the final arbiter as to if we needed to go to the Dr. He would put his hand on our foreheand and make that decision.

My Dad was the guy who would stop late at night in the South and help a black family with car trouble. Trust me that was unheard of.

My Dad was the guy who at age 11 (in our family) got out the bolt action single shot .22 and taught us to shoot. He’s the guy who taught me the art of threading a worm on a hook and also the guy who conned me into jumping in the water and pulling the boat across the sand bar in the intracoastal at St. Augustine.

My Dad love my Mom and he love us. I miss him every day.

[Aliska]

Yes, there were lots of WWII veterans. I get my conservatism, such as it is, from my father. There were a lot of things we never talked about which I regret. He was vehemently against communism as others mentioned but I think he was a tolerant person of people not like us except a couple of neighbors.

That was nice, Sequoyah101; it's very possible they attended some meetings and workshops together and did meet up at some point. Mine worked for the Corps immediately after the war and up until the year he died. He delayed his retirement, in part, to help me and my three children which I feel a little guilty about but he loved his work. I would give all that I have back to him if I could.

Mine was in the Rock Island District for the Corps. It still exists today. It was bounded by the St. Paul District to the north and St. Louis District to the south on the Mississippi and into the Iowa interior. I looked up the Upper Arkansas; it looks like Kansas City. It's hard to tell because they have divisions and then cities which seem to be the names of the many districts.

He was very humble, so I took it upon myself to boast a little about him.

[lostboy61]

I remember the day my father passed. I called my mothers brother and told him of our loss. His words were "Your dad was one good Fucking Marine". He ran our home as a USMC boot camp and I thank G_D everyday. 5th.Marines Okinawa and than Japan occupation. Thirty years as a L.A. County Deputy Sheriff. Took care of a sick wife and raised three kids. I watched him put his first son down in the cold, cold ground in 1968 with full military honors. I pray everyday that I would be half the man he was.

[Chickensoup]

My father and I were raised by the same woman, my grandmother, so we were more sibs in some ways than parent/child. Whenever I have a car issue, I always think of calling Dad. He loved his cars. Been gone nigh unto 13 years now.

[PeterPrinciple]

Dad didn’t always take time to show me how to do things but he did tell us, “You’ve got a smart mother and a smart father, you figure it out.”

Kids take things literally so I figured if they were smart, I was too, and could figure it out. Served me well though the years.

[Georgia Girl 2]

I am crying at the wonderful stories so many people have of their fathers. Most people had a good Dad from what I have seen. My Dad raised me to speak up and stand tall and be a good God fearing person.

[Cap'n Crunch]

Nothing in this world I love more than that old man.

[Roses0508]

My dad was an ordained minister and he lived what he preached. He adored my mom and my sisters. He taught me to use tools, to drive a stick shift, to garden and to be kind. We didn’t have much money but he always found a way to help those in need. He gave me my work ethic and my sense of right and wrong. While my career choice was completely foreign to him he was proud that I had a career. In his retirement, he mentored my two children and they rightly give him much credit for their success in life. He was absolutely the family rock.