Father-isms and Special Memories

Ralph and I are headed to Ellensburg today. His father passed away in February and all the family is gathering for a “Celebration of Life” on Father’s Day – up in the hills at their Charlton hunting cabin where the memories are documented in a series of spiral notebooks going back for years. Whenever you visit the cabin you are suppose to write a note in the book and date it. This was a whole new side of family that I began to love.

When I first visited the cabin after Ralph and I got married I wrote, “We will move to Washington in four years”. It actually took six and we started a new chapter in our life.

As you might remember, I wrote a blog on Mother’s Day titled Mom-isms. Thought it would be a real easy follow-up to do Father-isms for my weekly TGIF email. Not So!

In thinking back through my childhood and talking to Ralph we both said, “our fathers didn’t talk as much as our mothers”.

I have a lot of favorite memories but few Father-isms quotes. Both Ralph and I agreed on two…

If we asked our Dad if we could do something, the usual response was…
“What Did Your Mother Say?”

And the Best of All, I can close my eyes and see my Dad mouthing these words…

Go Ask Your Mother!

Memories… there are many. Close your eyes with me and remember yours...

• Dancing with my father while standing on his feet
  
• Dad coming home from work at 5:15 p.m. every day. Both my parents would have a “little tottie” before dinner and we would all gather (maybe that is why we have the Gathering Room at the winery)
  
• Dad cooking every Sunday after church. BIG PRODUCTION. As I grew older, all I wanted to do is eat fast and go out with my friends. Now I remember the BBQs, the caesar salad made from scratch and cleaning the shrimp together over the sink.

Father’s Day - Enjoy, Remember, Share, Connect…

Happy TGIF, Kathy

PS. Some other Father-isms I found on the internet…

• You can't have a champagne budget with a beer income
• As long as your feet are under my supper table, you'll follow my rules
• If you drive up to our house, park in the driveway and honk the horn, you better be delivering a pizza because you won't be taking my daughter out
• Good girls don’t call boys
• If you expect to be treated like a lady, you should always act as one
  (Notice a trend of very opinionated, protective and traditional fathers)
• Do you think I'm a millionaire?
• Do you think money grows on trees!

And, we all know the last father-ism…

No matter what happens, you can always come home!