Me and my handsome Daddy.
Tomorrow is Father’s Day, and to celebrate, I’m posting about my Daddy.
I have the best parents ever; not only have they been together over 30 years – “without either of us killing each other,” as my mother likes to say – but they seem to get ever more fun the longer I know them.
Case in point – yesterday, my Daddy comes bringing me one of those old-fashioned looking little stereos that plays records, CDs, and tapes. “Now, this will play any kind of record,” he told me, “78s even. Do you even have any 78s?” I think if I’d said no, he would have gone looking for those, too. How wonderful is that?
I don’t even know all the ways to tell you how great my Daddy is. But here’s a list of just some of the reasons he’s the best:
- When I was little, he used to take me to his coal mines with him, and actually let me go just inside. I rode in the coal trucks, on the dozers and the loaders, even on the man trip. That’s an experience very few children have, I imagine. Plus he would always hide me a little snack in his “dinner bucket,” then bring it back to me at night.
- My Daddy loves old cars. We’re always looking at cars, working on cars, or talking about cars. By the time I was five, I could rattle off the specs on his ‘73 Corvette (it’s an LT1 with a 327, if you’re interested), and tell you all the trim levels and available engines for Chevrolet trucks. He taught me all this. I was like a trained monkey – he’d take me to the service station, or the liquor store, and sit me up on a counter and let me run on as long as anybody would listen. Even now, he loves it when I can come with some car talk in front of his buddies.
- We would often go to Tennessee to see friends of his, and Daddy would always stop at Lincoln Memorial University in Harrogate so I could see the Lincoln Museum. Once we went past when it was closed, and we still yet stopped to look at the huge statue of Lincoln and his dog. Just because I wanted to. I always loved history, and he’d go out of his way to show me something historically interesting, and would bring me books and things about history.
- Sometimes Daddy would come get me and even friends of mine out of school just to take us to lunch, or to take us on some trip he was going on for work. He even did this after I was in college, and all my friends just loved it. In fact, he still does this.
Okay, I’m about to get all teary-eyed, so here’s the songs, dedicated to my Daddy:
Kenny Rogers – Reuben James
There used to be a restaurant (or “resturnt,” as we say around here) in town that Daddy and I would go to when I was really little. They had a big jukebox, and when we went in, Daddy would give me a handful of change so I could play it. I was so little that they had to push a chair up in front of it so that I could see the list and reach the buttons. This was one of the songs I liked best, and would sing it for Daddy and whomever else had the misfortune to be there at the time. Daddy was always tickled by how amazed people were that such a little girl could sing all the words to so many songs. He’s still tickled when he thinks I’ve impressed anyone 
My mother and Daddy both love Kenny Rogers. In fact, they took me to a Kenny Rogers concert when I wasn’t even two years old – and they claim I loved it. Hmmm.
Jefferson Starship – Count on Me
We also listened to a lot of soft rock, when I was little. This is one of the songs I can remember hearing on the radio, maybe when we’d drive up to Marblehead, Ohio, to see some of Daddy’s friends and so he could pretend to fish (he doesn’t like to fish – he just likes boats), or when we’d go to Gatlinburg, Tennessee to go to the rod runs and the weird museums down there. My family has always been one to travel, but we’re not big on amusement parks or anything like that – we instead like historical sites and museums and places where old cars congregate. We still all go on trips together, even though all the children are grown now. And we still have so much fun.
We can count on each other, too.
Dire Straits – Portobello Belle (live)
Most kids, once they are teenagers, kind of grow apart from their parents. I never got the opportunity – my parents wouldn’t allow it. We were all still herded together all the time, whether we liked it or not.
When it came time for me to get my drivers’ license, and hence a car, Daddy and I spent a lot of time driving around, looking for a car for me. We’d talk about cars, about the cars he’d had (and he’s had a lot), and what would be good for me. We listened to Dire Straits a lot; they’re the kind of low-key stuff he loves. When this song would come on, and he’d hear the line, “she thinks she’s tough/she ain’t no English rose,” Daddy would always nudge me and say “sounds like somebody I know.” And I thought I was tough, but we both knew better.
On a funny note, some people who lived a few miles up the road from me had an awesome 79 model Camaro Z28. It has sat there for over 20 years, just collecting dust. I wanted that car so bad I could taste it when I got my license, so Daddy went up to these people’s door, and asked them if they would sell it. They of course said no. Instead of giving up graciously, he offered them way more than it was worth, which they still refused. He then told them that if it were him, he’d be ashamed to let that car sit there and rot when a little old girl wanted it so bad. To this day I laugh about that, because he had several classic cars of his own that I was forbidden to touch under any circumstances!
Waylon Jennings – Only Daddy That’ll Walk the Line
Everyone I know thinks I have the coolest Daddy ever. So here’s one more for the coolest Daddy ever.
Oh, and here’s a picture of my baby, the classic truck I was finally able to buy my own self. My Daddy was probably never prouder of me than when I had him go look at this one with me. And that includes when I graduated from high school, college, and graduate school. So here it is, the truck me and my Daddy spend so much time on, my precious Lil’ Doe:
1 Comment
September 5, 2008 at 6:20 pm
Neat story! Sounds like you had a great time growing up. Of course it didn’t hurt to have a Dad who was into classic cars and trucks. Enjoyed your story.
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