Ode to my Dad

I remember when we lived in Scotland, we had a dial on the fridge. The dial said when one of us kids got to out alone with dad on whatever errand he was running. I remember one time I went out with my dad, and we got pigs in a blanket. It was a real treat!

When I was a freshman in high school, my dad took me to a football game. I sat by my friends near the marching band, and dad sat somewhere else where parents sat. It was a great game and went into overtime! My dad came over to find me and we decided to stay to see how the game would turn out. 3 overtimes later we won! It was the best game, and so much fun to go with my dad. It turns out that this was a week before my mom gave birth to my little sister, and it was also back in the days before cell phones. Needless to say my mom was not particularly happy with the fact that my dad and I stayed out past 11 to watch football. But I just remember my dad let me hang out with my friends, and he was so cool for staying through all the overtimes. (No, that isn't a picture of me... it is a generic band picture)

When I was in high school, my dad let me use the car to get to school and work. This usually meant I dropped him off at his work really really really early in the morning, and he walked home. Of course, he may remember this differently..... Walking to work uphill both ways with snow and no shoes.... What? You had feet? But I digress.

One time I had driven the car to work, and decided to go to the bank during lunch to drop off paychecks. The bank was up the road and on the left. It was a rainy day, and I was in the left hand lane of a four lane road. As I approached an intersection, there was a car going the opposite way who was attempting to turn left across my lane and the other lane into a vet hospital on my side of the road. They started to inch forward, and I thought they were going to turn in front of me, so I slammed on the brakes. Since the road was wet, I slid around, and hit some cars, and ended up in front of the vet hospital. All of the people were fine, but the car was totaled. I was so worried to call my dad because I thought he would be mad at me. He wasn't mad at all. He came and got me and made sure the accident was taken care of by the police. He took me home and called work to tell them I wouldn't be back in that day. He just asked me if I was ok, and he has never mentioned that I wrecked his car, not even to tease me about it years later.

Last week my dad was watching the news about the economic stimulus package and the state of the economy. When I saw him, he asked me if I had money in the bank. I said yes... why do you ask? He said it was going to be a rough six months, but as long as I had money in the bank, I would be ok. I was so touched by this, because it is my dad's way of letting me know he loves me.

Dad, I love you too.