Happy Father's Day, Dad. I Miss You.

I don't need a holiday to remind me to think of my Dad.  I think of him all the time, and I miss him.  I still have SO many questions to ask my Dad.  He was a Renaissance Man!  He knew just about everything, or so it seemed to me.

I am the youngest of six children.  And, I'm a girl!  I'm not an expert, but I think by law that makes me a Daddy's girl.  He was my hero and I was his baby girl and like I said, he knew just about everything.  Plus, we were partners in crime!

One of my favorite Dad stories (and I'm sorry if I told this story before, but it's a good story!) happened years ago when I still lived in Erie PA.  I had my own apartment but I only lived maybe three miles away from my parents.  I lived in my apartment for a few months or so and I called my Dad one evening and told him I thought I broke my vacuum.  It was NOT working and I didn't know why.

Being the good Dad, he came right over to take a look at it.  He told me the problem was that it was too long since I cleaned my hair out from around the roller since the roller was full of hair!  I said "but I NEVER cleaned my hair out from around the roller!"  And I remember like it was yesterday, my Dad responded "well, that's because I always cleaned your hair out from around the roller!"  Ok, if you never told me I had to do this on my own now, how was I supposed to know???

After we realized how ridiculous this argument was, my Dad and I had a good laugh over it.  And, he taught me how to cut all that hair off of the roller so that the roller doesn't seize up.  I'm sure most of you grown ups know exactly what I'm talking about.  It's a nasty job that you NEED a Dad around for. 

After that day, that became our running joke.  I loved both of my parents dearly, and I was lucky enough to have a great relationship with both of them individually.  But in my lifetime, they never had a good relationship with each other.  The farther apart they were from each other, the happier they were.  I think that is one of the reasons that they are even now buried 100 miles apart from each other.  But, I digress.

My Dad would to up in the attic at home and secretly call me at my apartment.  He'd tell me to wait about 10 minutes and call Mom and tell her I needed something.  He just wanted to get out of the house, and he wanted to do it without Mom busting his balls about it.  So, I was his excuse! 

So, 10 minutes or so later, I'd call the house.  Mom would answer the phone and I'd be appropriately upset when I told her I needed to talk to Dad as my vacuum was broken again!  I'd hear her call up to the attic for Dad to come down to the phone as I broke the vacuum again!  I'd hear him bellyaching about having to fix that damn vacuum AGAIN! He'd come to the phone, he'd bitch and moan a little and then tell me he'd be over in about 15 minutes.  I'd tell him fine, but he better be bringing a pizza!!

Sure enough, shortly after, Dad would show up at my apartment with a pizza in hand.  We'd watch a movie, he'd have an evening away from Mom and all would be good in our worlds.  In payment for this little deception, I'd get an evening with my Dad, a free pizza . . . and he'd clean the hair off of the roller of my vacuum.  Win/win/win for ME!

So, yesterday I had the vacuum out while I was cleaning the bedroom and of course I heard my Dad in my ear saying "call me in 10 minutes!"

And Dad, just like the old days, I still don't clean my hair out of the roller in a timely fashion.  Mainly because I HATE that job!! 

Nasty, isn't it?  This is just one of the hundreds of reasons why I miss you, Dad.  In honor of Father's Day, we're having pizza for dinner.  C'mon over, Dad!  I'll save the hair in the roller for you!