Sentimental Thread ... post a loving childhood memory about your dad.

[Saffron]

When I was in 5th grade, I played the March Hare in our school play, Alice in Wonderland. So ... the morning of the play I was in my bedroom, doing my thing, when my dad yelled, "Margaret Mary, get here!" You know when a parent says your full name you better run!!! So out in the living room I ran, goo goo eyed because I didn't know what I did. He said, "I'm very proud of you for being in the play. This is for you." I looked around and I didn't see anything, then all of a sudden a blue eyed, teeny tiny white six week kitten walked out from behind his chair!!!!!!! This how how loving he was ... my dad hates cats!!!!!!! LOL! He was so proud of me, that his love for me surpassed his hate for cats! LOL! Oh, and they became best of friends, the cat and my dad.

 

[Kitty 34]

My Dad was a very busy man and wasn't much into raising us kids but when I was 6, I remember him taking me for a Coke at a local dime store. It was the best Coke I've ever tasted.

 

[Cindy B]

My father has always worked shift work.. for over 30 years. He has always had more than one job for over 30 years as well. It was a well known fact that if he didn't go, he didn't get paid. He was a truck driver, so basically if you don't drive, you don't get paid.

Well, when I was 19 I was in a fairly serious car accident. I had a ruptured ear drum, and constant ear care by a ENT doctor was needed. Who took me to the doctor (I couldn't drive or even walk straight) every time DURING THE WORK DAY WITHOUT PAY for me? There were tons of appointments, probably 8-10 in all.


My dad.


It may not seem shocking to anyone else, but to me. This is a person who always worked 16-18 hours days for over 30 years. To actually take time off.. was shocking! (we never took vacations, or anything like that either.. Dad was always working)

Another one was when I was in my "renegade" stage. I would drive in punk clothing, have a shaved head, and wear castoff military clothes... I still got good grades, and didn't do drugs..etc. I was definetley dressed differently, it was really different back in 1988.

Well, anyway, my dad and mom and I went to the Navy commissary in South Philly. (I think its the PX). I said I would go, and my dad said he would take me to South Street on the way back. (My DAD!) The way he went was coming from the other way so it was pretty bad neighborhood. I kept on thinking he would turn around, and he didn't. My mom was so nervous.. but he didn't listen. We actually parked the car and walked around on an early Sunday afternoon. I loved the store Zipperhead, and well, its pretty avante garde to say the least. I went in , and my mom was too appalled at the bustiers, and the leather goods so she waited outside. My dad actually came in with me (I knew it was a stretch for him!), and watched me thumb through the Tshirts and music posters. I remember him asking who was who on the poster rack, and if the group was any good. He walked around the store with me as I looked at boots, and Docs. He actually came into my world, if that makes sense.

He never turned up his nose or acted weirded out. He never sneered at what I liked, or thought it was strange.

At the end of my browsing, I found a Sid and Nancy /Sex Pistols Tshirt. I was all set to pay (I paid for everything on myown since I was about 12), and he paid for the Tshirt. It was not his taste or maybe what he liked to see his daughter in, but he paid for it.
I kept that shirt for ages. When the shirt shrunk, I asked my mom to make a pillow out of it... and she did.

I still wish I had that shirt.. even though this happened back in 1988.

 

[catsrule]

Giving me a great big hug the day I moved out and saying 'I love you' to me. That is the only time I remember him saying that to me.

Walking me down a small church aisle the day I got married.

Supporting me in everything I did.

Accepting other people as they were. This was his best trait and I learned this from him.

 

[cabmom]

My dad used to take me to the barber with him to get his hair cut. He always used to call me pet name as a child.
He was always a "gruff" man, but kind at heart.

 

[Cruise04]

My dad was not in my life much, although we lived in the same house. I was a girl and he wanted me to be a boy and he didn't like that about me. Anyway - the best memory I have of him was a few years ago (we've grown very close since I became an adult after he and my mom divorced). We had gone down to FL to visit my in laws and my dh had a conference in Tampa. So while he was at the conference we had a great idea that my dad fly down and we spend some time together. We went to Busch Gardens and had a great time. DH went off to his conference and dd and my dad and I went to WDW. I had never seen him have such a great time and enjoy this much time with me. He was truly amazed by what we did in 2 days and what he got to see. I'm so happy we got to do this and look forward to getting to do this again hopefully next Christmas.

To actually see that magic in someone's eyes that has never seen WDW in a very long time (by that time it had been 1978 since he had been there) was awesome.

 

[gina2000]

I have two. I hope you'll indulge me....

When I was quite young, I loved Nancy Drew books. I saw the first 3 (I had read The Hidden Staircase, no 2.) and wanted them. My dad was out of work and I knew not to ask. I just fingered them and looked. Just before we left the store, my dad picked up #1 and #3 and bought them for me. I'll just never forget that.


On my wedding day, my dad and I were standing at the top of the aisle ready to walk down. His words to me....."You don't have to do this if you don't want to....." I never forgot those words. Imagine, having the courage to tell your child that they could reneg at the 11th hour....no questions asked.....I did get married.....and I never forgot those words.....


My dad has been gone for 7 years last week. He lives on in my son.....who resembles and acts like him in ways I never thought possible.....

 

[hrh_disney_queen]

Originally posted by Saffron
When I was in 5th grade, I played the March Hare in our school play, Alice in Wonderland. So ... the morning of the play I was in my bedroom, doing my thing, when my dad yelled, "Margaret Mary, get here!" You know when a parent says your full name you better run!!! So out in the living room I ran, goo goo eyed because I didn't know what I did. He said, "I'm very proud of you for being in the play. This is for you." I looked around and I didn't see anything, then all of a sudden a blue eyed, teeny tiny white six week kitten walked out from behind his chair!!!!!!! This how how loving he was ... my dad hates cats!!!!!!! LOL! He was so proud of me, that his love for me surpassed his hate for cats! LOL! Oh, and they became best of friends, the cat and my dad.

Your story is so sweet, it brought a tear to my eye...

I was an only (girl) child. I used to go out into the garage with my dad when he was working on stuff (he was very handy) and he would give me nails to pound or something to do right next to him. He used to smoke Camel unfiltereds, and I remember him puffing away on them...Thank God, at age 40 on New Years Eve he stopped smoking cold turkey...And he never had any adverse effects from the 25 years that he smoked..

When I was VERY small (about 2?) someone let me play with a pair of nail clippers, and as I was sitting in my Daddy's lap, I reached up with them and clipped his ear...You can still see the mark and he is now 72...

 

[Fishbone†]

When I was young, my dad went to school full-time and worked nights. His schedule was such that he would leave for class while I was in school, go straight to work from there, come home from work around 2:00 am, and was sleeping in the morning when I was leaving for school - often I did not see him until the weekends....... except that every night when he would get home at 2:00 am, while I was still small enough to carry, he would come into my room, pick me up and carry me into the living room to rock on the rocking chair for a while. Most of the time I would wake up when I heard him come in, but I would pretend to be asleep anyway........ unless I had something really important to tell him.
When I got too old to rock, he would just come in to make sure I was covered, lightly kiss my forehead, and whisper that he loved me. Darn that getting older!!!

 

[luvdisney81]

Oh my gosh Fishbone!!! That is like some hallmark special!

I was 2 1/2 and got ahold of the baby powder on afternoon. My dad was a stay-at-home dad then, 1983 a rare thing to see. Well i dragged that powder to the coffee table which was topped with glass. Preceded to cover the glass in a layer of powder and make handprints. Pre-finger painting masterpieces that later came. . My mom came home from work early to find me. Dad laughed and joined me instead of scolding me. He made every day full of art and laughter. Less boundaries. Now I'm studying to be a theatre teacher!

 

[mrsdash]

Seeing my dad off at the airport as he was leaving for viet-nam again!!! That song leaving on a jet plane was playing on the radio when we left. It's still hard to hear that song. I just lost my dad to alzheimers this past November,so after reading this thread..... I think I will go have a good cry.{hugs}mrsdash

 

[Saffron]

Oooh, mrsdash. I'm sorry if this brought up sad memories , I hope it also brought up some beautiful memories. Your story is very touching.

All these stories are very touching. I love each and every single one!

 

[Mickey's sunshine]

I dont have any. *shrug* I can remember anything when I was under 3.

 

[Beauty]

My most fond memories are our battles. We are both so hard headed and I miss him so much (Hes been gone almost 4 years now). We worked together for almost 10 years off and on and we would debate everything. I wish I could debate with him now.

After it was over and I WAS RIGHT he would always say "I LOVE YOU, YOUR MY BABY GIRL!" I am, I'm just like him.

 

[Alice28]

I have a great dad...he is in the hospital right now, with a septic infection in his knee. He had surgery Monday night but still isn't doing well...say a quick little prayer for him if you're so inclined- he's only 59.

Dad was always RIGHT there to play games with me- softball, basketball, swimming, wrestling (can you tell maybe he wanted a boy?), cards, Clue, Sorry, even Hungry, Hungry Hippos! He would sit me on his knee outside by the pool on a hot summer night and tell me ghost stories. When I was about 8-9, our Camp Fire troop sponsored a craft fair at my school around Christmas time and Santa was even going to be there. I go up to take my turn saying hello to Santa and guess who it was!?! Yep, Dad. He said, "Hello little girl, have YOU been a good girl this year?" I looked at him and cracked up. How he said how proud he was of me that I kept "my nose clean" and did well in high school and college. He tells people that the reason he and mom didn't have any more kids is, "Why mess with perfection?"

 

[DISshopkeeper]

I was the first girl in my family after 3 boys and my Dad and I were very close. It's an accepted fact that I was his favorite. My Mom and older brothers tell of times when he would travel that I would often literally "go away". My eyes would roll back in my head and they couldn't get me to talk or anything. These episodes would last for 10-15 munutes at a time. Ironically when they asked me where I was I always said DisneyLand though I had never been there ever!

He was away on my 8th birthday and I waited ALL day for him to come home. Mom finally sent us all to bed. I was crushed. He arrived around 1 AM with TWO birthday cakes. They woke ALL of us up and we had cake and ice cream in the middle of the night. I can still see those two square cakes, with the candles in a row, 4 on each cake. He also brought me my first flowers that night. 8 roses.

Fast forward and I'm a teenager. 16 or so I think. Dad's retired on disability and Mom's working full time. When I didn't check in with her after school, she called home and no one, including Dad, knew where I was. Some panic ensued and when I strolled in much later after the basketball game I went to he was really pissed. Immediately grounded me and wouldn't listen to me when I TRIED (multiple times) TO EXPLAIN that I HAD told my Mom that I was going to that game. When Mom came home and remembered that I HAD told her, he apologized with tears running down his face. I was so distressed that he was crying!! I will never forget either of these events.

Thanks for the great thread, Maggie.

 

[KingsFanInRI]

this is a bit long... sorry.

as I grew up I lived in CA nad my father was in MA. I would see him on average every other summer for about a month. In 1986 however, he did something to surprise me that neither I nor my HS baseball teammates will ever forget.

My school baseball team qualified for the playoffs and were ranked 64th out of 64 teams, which meant that we played the #1 team in the first round. This was a big game for us, and even though the likelihood was small a win would be our defining moment.

About a half hour before the game started, the coach called us all together and told the whole team that he wanted everyone to play hard because my father was coming to the game all the way from Boston (he had never seen me play before). I didn't know whether or not to believe him, so my emotions were split right down the middle, but some of my teammates later told me that they got a bit misty (which I am doing right now as I recall this).

A few minutes later he showed up with my mother. At this point in my life I could count on one hand the number of times I had seen them together in my life ( I was 3 when they split). Because I had been told he was coming however I was able to be calm when I saw him. I looked at my mother and asked "Who's your friend?"

We played catch for a few minutes, he wished me luck and I hit the field, or at least the air space about 1,000 feet above it.

Early in the game, he sniffed out a part of the other team's game plan and told us about it. Once we showed them that they could not execute this plan against us, they were stunned and never adjusted. With my father's advice and a bunch of emotionally-charged (and pretty darned good) high school baseball players we won the game 1-0. Even if I wanted to I could never forget what he did that day.

 

[missypie]

I am so impressed by those of you who can still think of a good memory/kind thought about dads who weren't really "there" for you. You are very mature and generous!

When I was very young, my dad was pastor of a very small Baptist church. It was so cool when we were allowed to go down to the church to his "study" (what he called his office). Sometimes he had hard candy in a candy jar that he'd let us have. On Saturdays he would run off the bulletins on the mimeograph machine (I know, I'm very old) and we were allowed to help fold them...oh, I thought that was so neat!

(BTW, reading these stories is making me teary eyed.)

 

[luvmarypoppins]

I have alot of good memories

One christmas he told us it wasnt a good year. By this, we knew he didnt work alot so things were tight, but he fooled us and surprised my sister and I with bright, shiny new bikes.

Always encouraging me, unlike my overprotective mom who thought I could or should not do anything because of all my physical problems.

Him letting me be his fishing buddy and how we would go out the night before and get nightcrawlers. (O.K.. can you see I am definetely the disney anti-princess)

Taking a road trip to see our cousins in Ohio and him using all our hawaiian punch to pour into the radiator so the station wagon would stop overheating.

Taking us to the contemporary when it was kind of new. I didnt want to go, but he insisted we were all going to celebrate the end of one of my long surgeries.

People telling me how nice he was and how he helped them out and didnt rip them off, he owned a garage. Once in a while he let me drive with him in the wrecker and tow truck.

 

[monarchsfan16]

I think I have just one sentimental memory with him. And even though some would still consider me to be in childhood, I don't think there will be anymore. He's just not that kind of dad.
When I was about 3 every Saturday morning he would make me toast and watch Sesame Street with me, than put me in his truck and we'd go to the town dump to get rid of the trash. I'd ride over in my PJ's. While this might sound a little lame, aside from when mom brought us over to his office this was the only real time I spent with him, until I was 8 or so and he and mom split and custody stuff caused us to spend time with him. But I can clearly remember thinking it was so great to spend time with my daddy. He and I would have actual conversations, and best of all (at that point) my baby sister didn't go along.