My dad and I have always been super close. He was laid off from General Motors when I was very young, so he was Mr. Mom (and I think it’s safe to say Mr. Mom in the mid 70’s wasn’t all that hip, none of my friends’ dads stayed at home with them!). However, I like that Dad stayed home with me. We had some great times and many of the memories that come to mind first are from that period of time. We met my mom each day for lunch at 11:30 at the Time Out, a good ole joint servering burgers and fries, and I would order a vanilla coke and french fries every day. They were those thick, ripply fries and I would put one strip of ketchup with those squirt ketchup bottles on each and every fry. Good thing my eating habits have adjusted!
Another favorite memory during this time was painting TV towers. Yes, we had and used TV towers back then, especially in rural Indiana, which is where I grew up (Winchester, IN, to be exact). My dad would get crafty on what kind of jobs he could find to do; ones in which showing up with an energetic kid wouldn’t seem so odd. Looking back I’m sure he and my mom would discuss what to do, but when I was younger I just thought, wow, Dad’s come up with something new and fun for us to do today! TV towers, sparkly silver paint, yeah, that sounds fun! So off we would go. We did this for weeks. I have no idea how long we made a business of painting TV towers. I remember driving around, whether we were working or not, and calling out to Dad just where I saw a tower that needed painting and probably what we should charge for it. Then, we simply would go to that house, knock on the door, and ask if they wanted their TV tower painted. Curb appeal a la 70s style!
Wow, I found an image online - these are JUST like the ones we climbed and painted.
There’s no doubt this experience had and continues to shape who I am today. While I’m not knocking on doors and asking to paint TV towers, I’m still looking for avenues to help others, make things pretty and feel good about the work I’ve done at the end of the day. In fact, there are even days where I’ll call Mom and tell her the events of the day, just like I did back then. Thanks Dad for the wonderful memories, and even better lessons!
In honor of Dad’s everywhere, we’ve gathered a list of sayings from our Twitter and Facebook activites – here are the top 10…
- Why would you complain about something that just needs to get done – just do it
-
You put the emPHAsis on the wrong sylABle.
- The grass is NOT always greener on the other side
- Don’t make me come up there! (or my dad would say… don’t make me stop this car)
- You can’t change the spots on a leopard
- Never say “can’t”
- If it were easy, everyone would do it (or just because everyone else is doing it doesn’t mean you are doing it)
- Close the door! We don’t live in a barn!
- Don’t be a doormat for anyone
- MONEY DOESN’T GROW ON TREES!
