Story #20 - For My Father

Hey, everyone. This may be rather predictable, especially after what I did on Mother's Day, but I couldn't leave my dad out on Father's Day! So, this is a tribute to my wonderful dad. Happy Father's Day, Dad! This one's for you. :)

Title: For My Father
Warnings: None
Summary: A tribute to my dad, for Father's Day. :)
Length: ~1,100 words
Notes: First person point of view, past tense for the most part. Genre is one I'm kind of making up for have several stories that will fit into it, so - tribute.

 For My Father

                My dad loves to drink tea. He has a laptop named Compy (short for computer) and another one, creatively named Compy #2. He loves to spend time with his computers – we once bought him a teacup that proclaims, “I Heart My Computer.”

                My dad likes to eat weird food like Kashi (AKA cardboard cereal) and sweet potato chips. And that’s just skimming the surface. Lately he’s taken to adding some weird type of sweetener to his organic yogurt. My dad is skinny but he’s a devout advocate of exercise.

                I could spend many more words on my dad’s idiosyncrasies, but I’d like to share a few memories as my tribute instead. Here’s to you, Dad – I love you. J

                When I was little, I didn’t understand something about my mom’s interactions with my dad. She seemed to make fun of him an awful lot, and I had been taught that making fun of someone wasn’t nice. So one night I asked my mom, “Why do you tease Daddy all the time?”

                She replied, “It’s loving teasing. He knows we don’t mean it.”

                It’s true. My dad is very easygoing, even when we tease him . He’s got a good sense of humor – that’s one of the reasons why my mom married him. I tease my dad, now, too, but it’s loving teasing, just as my mom once said.

                Here’s a good example of loving teasing. I’ll let you in on a family secret: my dad’s going bald. He’s been balding for probably twenty years now, but he has enough hair stubborn enough to hang around. Still, we like to tease him about hair. He has various stories about why he’s going bald.

                One of my favorites is that when he was swimming in the ocean near Hawaii the waves “pummeled” him (direct quote) and he lost some hair. It doesn’t make a lot of sense, but it’s a fun story. Strangely, I don’t think he’s ever used the excuse of raising two kids making his hair fall out. Maybe that should be the next story!

                My dad can be a bit overprotective sometimes, but in such a sweet way that I don’t mind. One example of this is the first time he brought me to the orthodontist. Previously, I had always gone with my mom. When I got home I always complained to my dad about the pain and the scary procedures. So when my dad brought me that day, he offered to accompany me to protect me from the painful orthodontist.

                My complaining was just that – complaining. Sure, sometimes it was painful, but it wasn’t really that bad and I wasn’t really scared. Still, I was very touched that my dad was willing to protect me, even if there wasn’t really a threat.

                Another time we were walking in a parking lot and a car starting backing out next to me. I saw and was about to move when my dad suddenly put his hand on my back and steered me away with the speed of Hermes. His reaction scared me a lot more than the car moving towards me, but it also made me smile. I know that my dad will always protect me, whether the protection is necessary or not.

                My dad isn’t much of a reader. But I do remember one time that he read with me. For a while, he would read the third Harry Potter book, Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, out loud to me. I had a lot of fun curling up on the couch with my dad and listening to him read the book to me. The Prisoner of Azkaban is still the book that my dad knows the most about out of all the series.

                One time when he was reading the book to me, my loose tooth fell out. That was a memorable time! Oh, and speaking of losing teeth, one time my dad accidently elbowed me or something and I lost another loose tooth rather painfully and earlier than expected. Thanks for that, Dad!

                My dad is always the one who ends up going on all the “adventures” when my brother and I want to get outside and run around. He’s trekked across slippery rocks and all sorts of dangerous terrain to make sure we’re safe, and he’s carefully monitored us on beaches while still giving us enough space to have fun.

                One trip was all his idea, though – to go to Muir Woods in San Francisco. I don’t remember too much about the actual place or the day (I think it was cloudy, but that could just be my overall impression of San Francisco). I remember that there were a lot of chipmunks and a lot of trees. But what I remember most is the utter misery of our hike. I don’t know how long the hike was, but it must have been several miles. We either brought no water or a little, but I know that it wasn’t enough. I spent the entire hike exhausted and thirsty. After that, we didn’t go to Muir Woods again.

                Ah, the beauty of father-daughter (and son) bonding and nature hikes. What’s not to love?

                When I was young, I hit my head on the corner of a sharp desk and cracked it. It hurt a lot and I was very scared. My mom rushed me to the hospital, where I was relieved to find my dad, who was working there at the time. My dad reassured me and got me treatment quickly. He made sure the doctors used numbing salve instead of sticking needles in me, and used staples to patch up my head instead of stitches. The staples always made me feel special – most people got stitches, but I got staples. If that wasn’t cool, I didn’t know what was.

                I think I would’ve been a lot more afraid if my dad hadn’t been there, and if I had had a bunch of doctors poking needles into me. Again, my dad was watching out for me, as I can always count on him to do. Except this time, I daresay it was necessary!

                I know I’m missing a lot of memories and moments, Dad, but there are so many that I can’t possibly remember them all. Thank you for being there for me to make all the memories with you. I can’t believe it’s been nearly seventeen years! You’re the best Dad anyone could ask for. Happy Father’s Day, and I hope to celebrate many more Father’s Days with you to come!

                Love,

Your daughter, Julianna J