Dad

In honor of Father's Day, this post is about my dad.

My dad rockin the ruffled tux

As I mentioned in a previous post, my dad used to play his guitar and sing for us at bedtime. I also have memories of singing to the radio with him on car rides. We LOVED to sing 70's and 80's music. We would sing, "Wake Me Up, Before You Go-Go," "Brick House," "Dancing On the Ceiling", "Jesus is Just Alright," and "I Love a Rainy Night." Road trips when my parents were still married, consisted of car sing-a-longs to "Horsey Horsey", "Daisy Daisy" and "I Love the Mountains". Have you ever seen this commercial?

Yeah, it was kind of like that.

My dad loved animals. He always brought home strays. He brought home a cat with a fish hook stuck in it. Another time he brought home a puppy. We had birds, and fish. One day while mowing the lawn, my dad caught a garter snake. We kept it in a jar to show all the neighborhood kids.
We used to play Hide and Seek with my dad. He would hide us in clever, hard-to-find places, for the one who was "it" to find. I remember hiding on the top shelves of closets. Another time, he hid my sister by putting her feet in his army boots, and her body inside his army coat, hanging in the closet.

My dad taught me "Karate" lessons. I put that in quotation marks, because he really just sparred with me, doing "wax on, wax off" after we watched the Karate Kid.

My dad loved dressing up for Halloween with us.

Me as a scary witch, and my dad as a ghost

My dad almost always had a mustache. We were so used to seeing him with it, that when he (rarely) did shave it, he would call his shaved alter-ego, "Uncle Conrad."

My dad was creative and fun. He jumped on the trampoline with me, (which incidentally, was how I lost my two-front-teeth. My knees came up on a big bounce and smacked me in the mouth.) and roller skated with me.

He built this giant snow bunny!

My dad used a lot of "clean" cuss words, like "Judas Priest," "dagnabbit," and "gad dang," but I also distinctively remember him saying the "F" word once.

My dad took me ice fishing, and deer hunting, and we shot tin cans with a 22. Despite all this, I never doubted that I was Daddy's Little Princess. I had him wrapped around my little finger, and I knew that if I just asked, my dad would pay for an expensive formal gown, shoes, and jewelry. He loved to take me shopping.

My dad was my biggest fan. He always told me how beautiful, talented and smart I was. He encouraged me to pursue acting and singing. He came to every performance.

My dad and I during the Miss Magna pageant.

My dad was a truck driver, and in 2005 he was killed in an accident. A teenager, who was drunk and high on Meth, fell asleep at the wheel, crashing his car into the gas tank of my dad's 18-wheeler. The truck rolled, and the tank exploded. Another truck driver, who stopped to help, tried to get my dad out of the truck, but was unable to get close enough.

I am grateful I have such good childhood memories of my dad. I am grateful I had a close relationship with him as an adult. I still miss him, every day.

Nicknames

I was thinking about nicknames the other day, and how they come to be.

My dad's name was Clifford, and a lot of people called him Cliff. However, his most common nickname was Buzz. This was because when he was a little boy, he couldn't say the word "brother." He would run after his older brothers yelling, "Buzzer, Buzzer, wait up!" So from then on, everyone called him Buzz. How cute is that?!

When my nephew Tank was learning to talk, it was sometimes difficult to understand him. Sometimes what he said, sounded like something else. When he tried to call Mr. Wright "Uncle Roger", what it sounded like he was saying was "Under Water." To this day, even though he talks well, he still will call him "Uncle Roger Under Water." He knows it's funny.

My grandmother's middle name is Wilma. You know how Bill is a nickname for William? Well, every cousin, aunt, and uncle I've ever met on that side of the family calls my grandma "Aunt Bill." I have no idea why, as she has never gone by her middle name.

Do YOU have an unusual nickname?

Christmas Adam

When I was growing up, my parents were divorced, which meant that my parents had to share us for Christmas. We spent the night before Christmas Eve, and all day Christmas Eve with my dad. Then my mom would get us the night of Christmas Eve, and all day Christmas.

We got tired of always saying, "the day before Christmas Eve," or "Christmas Eve Eve". One of us (I'd like to think it was me) decided to start calling it Christmas Adam, (because Adam came before Eve, get it?). I thought we were pretty clever, but apparently we aren't the only ones who call it that.

Every Christmas Adam, my dad would take us to buy our own stocking-stuffers. We got to pick out whatever toiletries we needed and wanted, such as shampoo and conditioner, deodorant, razors, shaving gel, perfume, and make-up, etc. Then, he would take us out to dinner, somewhere a little on the pricey side, like Olive Garden, Red Lobster, or sometimes Benihana. It seemed that money was no object with my dad. We could order virgin daiquiris, and even lobster, or crab legs.

At night, he would tell us stories, or play his guitar for us. He often sang songs like, "Ticket to Ride,"  "Greenfields,"
"Summertime," or "Teddy Bear's Picnic." He composed each of us a song that he would play for us on the piano. We would often play hide-and-seek. In the morning, he would spend hours video recording us waking up Christmas morning, multiple times. We tried our best to "pretend" to be asleep, without cracking a smile.

During the day, Christmas Eve, we would usually go ice skating. My dad, would always ice skate with us, despite being very overweight. He didn't mind holding our hands, even if we accidentally pulled him down with us when we fell. Dad would also often take us to see a movie. Sometimes he would take us to see The Nutcracker. Other times he would take us on a carriage ride. 

My dad was a truck driver, and he had enough money to take care of his bills and expenses. I know he wasn't rich by any stretch of the imagination, but he spent hundreds of dollars on us every Christmas to make it special. After we became adults, we still spent Christmas Adam with my dad, even if we no longer slept over.

My sisters and I lost my dad in 2005, but we have continued to keep the Christmas Adam tradition alive, in honor of our dad. This year, we started the morning by seeing the Christmas movie, Arthur Christmas. My sister, Dreamer, didn't make it (she slept in), but me and Skinny's families saw it.

I really, REALLY, did not want to see this movie. I saw one trailer for it, involving an elf trying to keep Arthur from saying "Hello" to the audience. It was SO stupid, and I thought the movie would be too. However, I was pleasantly surprised. The movie was quite funny, and had some really interesting ideas about how Santa delivers the toys.

Next, we met up with Dreamer, and everyone went to Red Lobster for lunch.

Afterward, I took the babies home (I wasn't feeling very well, so I volunteered), while the rest of the gang went ice skating.



My nephew Chief, my daughter Spitfire, and my sister Dreamer



Skinny and Tank

I'm so grateful for the fond Christmas Adam memories I have with my dad, and I'm happy we can continue the tradition! Merry Christmas Adam, everyone!