Happy Birthday Dad.

Caribbean Cruise, September 2010

Today would have been my Dad's 69th birthday. In honor of him, here are 69 things I remember about my Dad:

1. My Dad would always sing, "Boola, boola. Boola, boola," and it wasn't until I heard him telling my children that I learned it was an old Yale fight song. No- he didn't attend Yale.
2. My Dad wasn't a big candy guy, but he liked Orange Slices, Sunkist fruit gems and Jelly Bellys.
3. My Dad loved chocolate chip cookies. I have never loved them, but I made them for him often as a teen because I knew it made him happy.
4. My Dad tried once to teach me to drive a stick-shift in his maroon Toyota pick-up truck. The lesson didn't go very well and he didn't ever try again. After I got my driver's license, I remembered what he had taught me and went out in the maroon Ford Fiesta from Aaron Reed and I didn't come home until I could drive it.
5. My Dad ate burritos for dinner A LOT.
6. During my teenage years, my Dad was gone even before I was up for early morning seminary. He would take the 5:30am ferry from Kingston to Edmonds, where he parked a car to drive to the office. He didn't come home most nights until after 8.
7. When my Dad got home, we would lay on his bed (while he ate his burritos) and watch Star Trek or Perry Mason with him.
8. Starting on my 12th birthday, my Dad made it a tradition to take me to dinner and shopping at Bellvue Square. His favorite store to shop at was Nordstrom, even though it meant I only got one or two things.
9. The last shopping spree I went on with my Dad was not for my birthday, but to buy my "Going-Away" dress. It still hangs in my closet.
10. One year my Dad took me to dinner at the top of the Space Needle. I didn't really love the food, but I loved the view from the rotating restaurant.
11. My Dad had a heart attack when he was 39. He left our home on a stretcher and was loaded into an ambulance while singing, "I'm off the see the Wizard..." I think he was trying to make it less scary for us kids, but I was old enough to think, "That's not funny."
12. After my Dad's heart attack- we did a lot of swimming. It was the exercise he liked best.
13. My Dad loved the sun.
14. He was always tan. Until the last couple years of his life.
15. When he moved to California and then Texas, he would still go to work early, so he could slip away at lunch time for an hour by the pool!
16. That my Dad loved being in the sun and around the pool was so crazy because he had huge scars on his chest and his legs from his open heart surgery. He didn't let that stop him from doing what he loved.
17. My Dad loved to read.
18. I don't know why I was surprised that my Dad's office was full of stuff from his children- art work, pictures, gifts we had given him. I loved feeling like he bragged about us to all the people at work.
19. My Dad was the hardest worker I have ever known. Long hours, three jobs, midnight shifts... whatever it took to take care of our family.
20. My Dad was really smart. I could ask him about anything from classical music to economics and he would have something to say. When I had to do an oral presentation in AP US History on the economics and politics of The New Deal, he helped me understand it SO well, that my 20 minute presentation took three class periods and was accompanied by tremendous praise from my teacher. (Don't ask me to explain it now!)
21. I loved going to University of Washington football games with my Dad. I always went to Homecoming. He bought me my favorite purple and yellow scarf at one of the games.
22. He also took us to Mariner baseball games.
23. And he bought me my first of many tickets to the Opera.
24. I think of my Dad as a diet Pepsi guy.
25. I remember my Dad holding the back of my rainbow banana seat while I learned to ride a bike. I think he was there less than ten minutes before saying, "Keep practicing. You'll figure it out."
26. My Dad's Christmas stocking was a pair of red and white striped pants. My whole life it was the same stocking.
27. My Dad liked a real Christmas tree. He usually hung the lights, always multi-colored and large bulbs, then we hung the ornaments.
28. My Dad was born in Indiana.
29. My Dad joined The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints when he was in his 20's. A friend from work invited him to come.
30. I was always impressed that my Dad had read all the Standard Works and Mormon Doctrine when he first joined the church. He continued to read church books all his life. I knew he was serious about the gospel.
31. He met my mom at a FHE for Singles in Las Vegas.
32. They were married in the Salt Lake Temple.
33. My Dad graduated with a Bachelor's degree in Political Science.
34. Many years later, he went back to school at a local community college. Before he even finished his degree in Computer Programming, he was teaching it!
35. My Dad had facial hair most of my life.
36. My Dad really liked Hard Rock Cafe. It was funny to me because I never heard him listen to modern music. Yet he recognized most the songs when we went and he knew all sorts of history to go with them.
37. He collected hurricane glasses from Hard Rock Cafe and Planet Hollywood.
38. And he always bought their white polo shirt. If you didn't look at the location patch, you'd think my Dad wore the same shirt every day!
39. When we vacationed in Las Vegas, my Dad loved to take us to the Golden Nugget for shrimp cocktails.
40. My Dad loved James Bond movies and he let us watch with him even though my mom thought we were too young.
41. My Dad had a temper.
42. I felt that he was hard to please.
43. There was no discussion about attending school or church- he expected we would be there and we would do our best.
44. My Dad was the church custodian for a time. He taught me the "right" way to line up the chairs and to lock up a building. Yes- I still do both things the way he showed me. And I never leave my trash behind because I know he'd still grumble about it.
45. On my way to BYU, our van broke down in Prosser, Washington- we hadn't even made it out of my home state! But my Dad, who was driving separately, went a different direction and made it all the way to Utah before finding out what had happened to us. He borrowed a bigger car and came back immediately to get us and bring us to Utah.
46. I loved vacationing with my Dad- Las Vegas, San Diego, Disneyland, Arizona, a cruise on the Mexican Riviera and another in the Caribbean... good times.
47. My Dad loved Costco.
48. My Dad had Congestive Heart Failure.
49. And he had prostate cancer.
50. Being sick changed my Dad for the better, even though it really sucked. (Sorry Mom- I know you hate that word.)
51. My Dad wore glasses or contacts.
52. My Dad had dentures. Notice, I didn't say he wore them.
53. My Dad's only musical talent was music appreciation, but he was very good at it.
54. My Mom and Dad used to go to the temple each month to do sealings. At the time, I hated being the babysitter because the trip took them hours. Now, I am so grateful for their example of temple attendance.
55. My Dad liked card games. I don't think he was ever a gambler, but he was known to play Blackjack and Poker with my brothers. He always played Pinochle when my aunt and uncle were around. I remember playing Rook and Phase Ten with him. And my kids remember playing Better Luck Next Time.
56. I hated playing Trivial Pursuit when my Dad was around because he knew every answer!
57. My Dad showed his love by giving gifts. I think he felt love through words of affirmation.
58. My Dad has one younger, but much taller, brother.
59. He had a special relationship with his grandmother.
60. Many of our family traditions involve food. My Dad loved good food and he loved going out to eat. I had the best steak of my life when he took me to Kirby's in Dallas.
61. When Kate was 6, my Dad introduced her to steamed clams eaten right out of the shell.
62. I had the best collection of college sweatshirts from my Dad's travels to the East Coast for work. The Clemson one, with the Tiger paw as the "o," was my favorite.
63. My Dad loved a clean house. I don't know how he lived with us.
64. One of my favorite things to do with my Dad when I was a child was to assemble his handouts. No joke. I'd walk around the table picking up one of each page in exactly the right order and then he'd take the stack and staple it together. You'd be surprised how often we did this.
65. My Dad used to bring home ASCII art from school. Woodstock was my favorite.
66. The radio in my Dad's car was always tuned to 98.1, Classical KING FM.
67. My Dad loved to say "I'm a Cranky Old Yank in My Clanky Old Tank in the Streets of Yokohama With My Honolulu Mama Doing the Beat-o, Beat-o Flat of My Seat-o Hirohito Blues."
68. We just referred to my Dad as "Grumpy."
69. The last memory I have of my Dad alive is saying good-bye in his room at the care center after spending Christmas together in Texas. He hugged each member of my family and told us he loved us...

I miss you Dad. Happy Birthday.