Saturday, June 19, 2010

Memories of my father and why I wonder, “How Am I Normal?”

Tomorrow is Father’s Day—if you’re lucky enough to still have your father or you have a loving stepfather or an exemplary baby daddy, don’t forget to honor him.

I’ve written about my father several times here and he pops up in my book a lot, too.
I come from one of those families where everyone's a comedian. "You're eight years old?" my father would ask my little friends. "I'm surprised at you. When I was your age, I was ten!" Each new playmate we brought to the house was subjected to Daddy's repertoire of one-liners, straight from Yogi Berra's B-list. "I know your mother," he'd tell them. "We went to different schools together."

Daddy was a funny man. Funny ha-ha and funny odd. When he called to inform his sister about a death in the family, he was both at the same time.

"Joyce," he began to break the news, "how many uncles do we have?"

"Why, we have one uncle," she answered, to which he bellowed, "WRONG!"
What a nut, huh?

On our road trip my sister Lori reminded me of something else he once said, which I’d totally forgotten.
“Why should I worry about driving around in clean underwear? If I get in an accident, I’m gonna shit my pants anyway.”
Aaah, the wisdom of Dad.

Happy Father’s Day to all the dads out there!

5 comments:

Donna B. said...

Told in a way, only YOU can! I am so glad you have such fun memories of your Dad. That last comment shared by Lori, made me laugh out loud. Miss you.

Lori Biker said...

We are so lucky to have had such an entertaining father. I just looked up and saw the Archie Bunker For President mug I gave him one Father's Day. We could sit for hours talking about things he said. How lucky are we?

raydenzel1 said...

I only hope my children have fond memories of me when I am gone.
Hell, I hope they have them now!

Debra Lynn Shelton said...

Great jokes, and a great dad. I'm blessed to still have mine. Nothing can compare.

Anonymous said...

What a fun dad!

Gotta love a regular jokester!