Texts From Dad

     My Dad passed away Friday. He fell down a full flight of stairs about a week before his death. During the fall, he broke several ribs and, fractured his neck. He has had declining health for some time now, and the fall was pretty much more than his body could handle.
     It was a long and terrible week, as we watched him slowly fade away.


     It was hard to walk up the stairs he had fallen down, to look through all his pictures, so that we could put them together for the memorial service, planned for Saturday.


     Something that more than one of my siblings mentioned, and that I think we will all miss, are the texts from Dad.
      Dad was 85 years old. He did not actually start having kids until I came along when he was in his mid forties. Dad worked the swing shift until he retired from his Federal job as a Meteorologist in 1994. I did not appreciate how hard it must have been to have 8 kids and work swing shift - a week of days, a week of evenings and a week of nights - until I grew up and had only half that amount of kids, and attempted to work multiple jobs at crazy hours over the years. He was an older Dad, but, he managed to keep up with his pack of crazy kids.
     Dad would bring a book, and sit patiently under a tree while we would play for hours every summer at the town pool. He was probably thankful for the break, actually. He sat through my brothers' baseball games, played catch with them for hours, and, though quiet, always seemed to be wherever we all were when something of note was happening. Something that I don't think I realized as much, until we were going through pictures over the weekend. Piles of pictures from every memorable event in our lives. He was pretty laid back, and his refrain over the years of growing up was always "Play nice. Just play nice." Mostly he just wanted to read. He read everything. When learning how to drive, Dad would calmly get into the passenger seat of the car, book in hand,  I would start up the car, drive as long as I liked, and Dad would just sit there and read. (By the way, I passed my road test the first time I took it.)
     His great passions were airplanes and all things weather. His years in the Air Force were often fondly spoken of. He loved to go to Air Shows with my brothers.

     What we all sort of smiled over though, was Dad's texts. He had a very basic cell phone that flipped open. It was one of those phones that needed to have the keys pushed multiple times, in order to spell anything.
     We decided he needed a tablet, so he could follow us all on Facebook, so, for his 85th birthday this year, one of my brothers gifted him with one. He tried. He really did, but, he just couldn't figure it out no matter how hard he tried, how to use it. He preferred to stick with his cell phone. Some gems from over the last two years:


"What did the digital clock say to the grandfather clock? Look grandpa, no hands! - Dad"


"President Roosevelt's daughter Alice said her goal in life was to empty what was full, fill what was empty and scratch what itches. -Dad"


"Guy looking for a parking spot at the mall says 'God, get me a parking spot and I will go to church every Sunday.' then see's a spot and says 'Never mind, God, I found one.' - Dad"


"From Groucho Marks 'Politics is the art of looking for trouble, finding it everywhere, diagnosing it incorrectly and applying the wrong remedies.' -Dad"


"What did yes say to no? Answer: Maybe - Dad"


"John Ruskin said 'Sunshine is delicious rain is refreshing, wind races up, snow is exhilarating. There is no such thing as bad weather, only different kinds of good weather' - Dad"


"How to put together a talented group: You find clever people, you provide them with resources, you protect them from nonsense then you get the hell out of the way. - Dad"


"Just read that one of the losers in the 1966 Primary said 'The people have spoken. The Bastards.'         isn't that great? - Dad"


"Dashiff Hammett said 'The problem with putting two and two together is that sometimes you get four and sometimes you get twenty two.' - Dad"


"Today's Moon is called a Strawberry Moon because it's occurring on the Summer Solstice. The last time was 1967, the next time is 2062. -Dad"


"Here are the words to 'Taps' 'Day is done. Gone the sun from the lake, from the hills, from the sky. All is well, safely rest, God is nigh.' - Dad"



     Well, Dad. I don't suppose I could have put it any better than that. Fly High, Airman.