Remembering Our Fathers on Father's Day

[MuffyBee]

Today is Father's Day and I wanted to open a thread so that we could share stories, anecdotes and memories of our fathers.  If you didn't have a father in your life, was there someone that helped filled that gap such as a mentor, neighbor, teacher or friend of the family?  Or how about your father-in-law or a brother, uncle?  That's special for father's day too and should be included here.  

[Green Eyes]

Well I guess I will be the first one. My dad has been gone 16 years this pass April. One of things I remember is when I was about 7 and there was something on TV that I wanted to see but it was past my bed time. He would call me and tell me " my back itches will you scratch it for me. He would sit there and have me scratch his back for whole time the show was on that I wanted to see. Then tell me thank you and off to bed I would go. How he handled the whole back scratching for a half hour is beyond me. We would laugh about it years later.  Happy Fathers Day Dad

[Blue Moon]

My father passed one year after my son was born.  He loved my son with a passion.  Every time we went to his home to visit I would hold my son up to the window on the front door and my father would pop up and go "Boo".  My son just laughed and laughed so hard.  He really loved his granddaddy.  My father loved kids (must have, he fathered eleven of us).  He would come to my home on weekends and walk in and pickup my son and off they would go.  I never knew where but my son always came home with a grin on his face and would always cry after my father.  When my father was fighting lung cancer my son was the only thing that took his mind off it.  I knew his time was up when one day he was holding my son and he started crying and he gave him to me and he went outside so we wouldn't see him cry.  He knew his time was near and I did too.  He never held him again.  He passed away soon after.

One day soon after my father passed away me and my son stopped in at the convenient store close by and I was checking out and the clerk came from around the counter and grabbed my son and hugged him and told him they had all missed him.  She even knew his name.  My father had taken him all those times to the store and showed him off.  (I am crying as I write this)

My aunt (my father's sister) gave me a picture of my father in his grade school class soon after he passed away.  The picture was made about 1920.  My son is the spitting image of my father.  It is almost scarey to look at that picture and you would swear it is my son.

I miss him so much, my son misses him also ever though he was too young to remember.  I made sure he remembers with all the pictures I made of them together.

[Lovinlife]

Every weekend my mom, dad, brother & I would take our 200 mile round trip jaunt to visit my paternal grandmother.  The way there and back my dad & I would listen to sports radio, or what ever game we could catch over the airwaves. 

In the summer evenings my dad would tinker in the garage with his little am radio listening to the Indian's games, brown's games or buckeyes.  When by chance a game would be on TV (before cable & sports 24/7) we would get so excited and set up the family room with the am radio so we could turn down the volume on the TV and listen to the real announcers call the play-by-play. 

I lost my dad in 2006 and not a day goes by that I don't miss him terribly.  We had kind of a tumultuous relationship into adulthood and I'm sorry that I didn't get more time with him to make amends.  I wish he was here to see what a wonderful grandson he has who loves sports just as much as papa did.  My son & I snuggle up on Saturdays to watch college football with that little am radio and the sound on the tv turned off. 

Happy Belated Birthday & Father's Day Dad!  I love you and miss you bunches!!!