hey dad

today is the anniversary of my father's burial.

MAKE NO MISTAKE, i am not looking for sympathy, and I will NOT get maudlin about him.

i was just a kid when he died. i remember him, but i did not know him.
i mean i was just a kid. i don't think that kids really know their parents when they are still kids.... too young to carry on a meaningful conversation. too young to ask important, relevant questions.

i can remember watching a television show, by myself, and then going to ask my dad about the subject matter.  it had to do with Halley's Comet, which passed through near to Earth in 1910, when my dad was 9 years old. he remembered Halley's Comet. he remembered that people were afraid. to be honest that is the only conversation i remember having with the man.  a handful of months later he was dead.

he was in the hospital for a couple weeks. i did not see him during that time. in those days they did not allow children in to visit anyone, not even to say goodbye. they thought that i would be frightened or upset, but all i wanted to do, all i needed was to see him.  then he died. no one talked to me about the fact that he was gone forever.

anyway, i remember daddy,.... *insert laugh here*..... he was an interesting person, i can say that. he was human. he was not afraid to shout at the priest at his parish,... "I'll meet you, down there!" he shouted, pointing downward.... i was 6 years old then, but i knew what my father was saying to the priest. my dad had a temper, no one can deny that. he got angry, but he never hurt anyone.

he drank. isn't it sad that i remember that?....at age 6 or 7 i could accurately predict when he would drink too much. it was always when we had company.  not every time we had company. occasionally my dad would drink too much, and when the company left, he would act belligerent...yelling and stomping around. it scared me, as a child. he never hurt anyone.

my dad did good things. he raised hybrid carnations. he took care of his family. he loved radio, and then television. he was an evening couch potato...parked in the living room, in a recliner i still own,... watching television until the wee hours of the morning.  in those days television stations went off the air in the wee hours, before dawn.  many the night i was awakened by the National Anthem, or the hum/buzz of the test pattern, and my mother's hushed tones as she whispered my father's name and told him, "come to bed."

my dad loved westerns,...Bonanza and Gunsmoke, and variety shows. we rarely missed the Lawrence Welk Show, Jackie Gleason, Jack Benny, Red Skelton, Bob Hope.... and Ed Sullivan.  though those variety shows came my exposure to a wide variety of music. opera, country, rock n roll,....
that is what i remember best, of my father's life.