On this Father's Day I think of my Dad with fond memories, even though the man made me absolutely nuts my entire life up until the end where we finally found peace. He died a few months after my Mom, who was his entire life. I don't think he was able to live without her. They called my Dad, "Pat the Irishman", and apparently he was pretty much a hell raiser in his early days. The pictures below are not in any order because I don't have the "time" this morning. But I did want to pay tribute to my Dad on this Father's Day week-end!
This is my Dad & Mom in the house we grew up in on Senasac Avenue in Long Beach. After they passed away, Katie and Vinnie were able to buy the house. Although it doesn't look the same, it still holds fond memories for me.
This is one of my favorite pictures. It's myself, my sister, Teri, with my Dad at Pier Point Landing in Long Beach. In the old days, the downtown area of Long Beach use to be pretty cool until everything was tore down. It was never the same.
Me and my Dad on the back porch of our home back in the day!
I love this picture. My Day was in the Army during WWII. His favorite memory was coming home on the Queen Mary. When he got older, and got into antiques, he was so excited to find an old chair from the Queen Mary. He restored it to look just like it did back in the day.
My Dad with my Mom's cousin Jimmy. My Dad loved to party like a rock star when he was bit younger. I think my Mom cut him off as he got older!
My Mom never talked much about her life back in Texas. My Dad use to fill in a lot of the blanks. He was the one that documented all of his pictures and left a story of their lives for my family. This was his dog, Shad, before I was born.
This is one of my favorite, but bittersweet pictures. My parents had been living in Assisted Living, which my Dad hated. They weren't able to take care of themselves the way they should, so we had no choice. My Mom passed away a few days after Riley, my first grandbaby was born. I think she hung on long enough to know that Riley arrived safely in the world. This picture was taken around Thanksgiving time. It was the first time my Dad held Riley. And all he could say was, "oh, your Mom would have loved this baby"! He came to my house for Christmas that year and wasn't doing well. But he loved seeing Riley, and again kept saying how much my Mom would love her. A couple of months later, he died of Alzheimer's on Valentine's Day. Kind of bittersweet, but a real love story if you think about it. So, on this Father's Day, if your Dad is still around, give him call, go see him, even if he does make you nuts like my Dad did to me!
This post brought on the tears for me. Father's Day is bittersweet for me as my dad passed three and a half years ago. Like your mom, I think he hung on long enough to know that my baby boy had arrived safely in my arms. Coop had only been with me for five weeks. But he was the joy of my father's life. So Father's Day is a sad day for me...
ReplyDeleteThanks for sharing your stories about your dad. Love the photo of him and Riley, and of you as a baby too!
Such a sweet story! I can relate!
ReplyDeletekaren...
That was a very loving tribute to your dad. I remember Long Beach back in those days. Once, we took the ship to Catalina Island from Long Beach Harbor. Do you remember that? I was an actual big ship that went there. Did you ever go hang out around in San Pedro? It's been ages, but there was a fisherman's wharf there. I'm sure that's very different now too. It's great that you get to visit your childhood home. And that you have so many great family memories.
ReplyDeleteAnd I wanted to say thank you for your very kind words about Anthony.
We got him when he was 12 years old and in the seventh grade. He was every teachers nightmare and got into daily fights with other kids and was failing all of his classes. His former group home had him heavily medicated too. We got permission to take him off of the medicine completely.
We transferred him from the Costa Mesa School District to The Huntington Beach School District. And we started taking him to Calvary Chapel Beachside every Sunday. We worked on bringing out his natural sense of humor and with everything combined, he started to blossom into an incredibly wonderful kid. He has moved out now with his Aunt and it's incredibly sad to have him gone. We miss his laugh. He has one of those booming laughs that make everyone else laugh just hearing it. We still have one left who is supposed to go home to his parents this Summer. Then soon, we will start all over again with a new teen.
Sorry this post is so long! I hope you're having a great weekend, Mary :O)
Sue, what a wonderful tribute to your Dad. He was obviously a "larger than life" presence and having had one of those types of dads myself I appreciate the trials at the end of their lives and then the empty place they leave when they are gone. Ann
ReplyDeleteI love your stories, and I love your photos. My fav is you and your dad on the steps.
ReplyDeleteEven if your Dad could drive you nuts... Any Dad that toughs it out, and stands by his family, deserves credit. They are truly heros. Those that march to their own drummer... go against the grain... stand strong for what they believe... - even more so.
Hope you're having a great weekend.
xoxo
T