for those of us missing our Dads who have passed on

My Dad was a special guy (as are most Dads). He had a short lived Navy life, he lost his arm in WW2 while serving as a gunner on a ship, and they discharged him, and he started civilian life again.

Now...a lot of people may think that having only one arm might have hindered my Dad, but no way.He was a magnificent carpenter, he could cook, he changed our diapers, he drove a stick shift, and a ton of other things to numerous to mention...I never looked at my Dad as a person with one arm, he was just Dad, he had a prosthesis, but never used it, he hated the way it felt. He told great stories and had sparkling green eyes and was full of charisma, everybody liked him, he was...my Dad, a good guy and I loved him, I just wish I had, had more time with him. But I am thankful for the memories I have of him. One of my fondest memories is of him waking me up as a little child, and I would ask him what was wrong, and would say "nothing, I just wanted to say good night." He would kiss me on the head and bless me and tell me to sleep tight. I always felt safe and warm.

I miss you Dad...I miss your laugh, your crooked smirk when you have been up to no good, I miss your mischievous, sparkly green eyes...I even miss you playing Merle Haggard's "Okie from Muskogee" over and over again. I am proud to be your daughter and you will be forever in my heart...I love you.
Happy Father's Day

I liked that. Thank you for sharing.

My father died last year. I'll drink a Sidecar in his honor today.

Beautiful, Tat.

i'm trying really hard not to let today make me sad. It's hard though. i miss you, Dad. i know you are in all our thoughts today. i also know, if you had your way you'd still be here. The kidlet cannot go to your grave, it's too raw for her so i go for both of us. i still cheer on your Browns, Indians and Buckeyes for you.


i love you

...........

Nice thoughts and a great story, o Edible AV'ed One.


My dad was mentally ill and had a very tough go of it, especially his last years. If I focus on that, the memory is bleak. If, instead, I concentrate on how wicked funny he was when I was younger, it's a much brighter picture. He died in 2004. I miss him sometimes.


Reality is what we choose to look at.

Anybody who thinks accountants are dry and humorless never met my Dad. He could pun tri-liguilly, and introduced me to both Peter Sellers (The Mouse That Roared, for one) and PDQ Bach. We spent our summers living baseball (Mets) and every Tuesday evening in the local library for years. My obsession with museums comes from Daddy, along with my sense of direction, love for classical music, artistic sense, love for photography, and need to learn. I wish I had also gotten his amazing knack with numbers. How many people have you ever met who could add manually faster than an adding machine? I have only met one.

Dad was someone who loved deeply but had trouble expressing it. Perhaps it was his repressed parents, or perhaps it was his youth, enduring the early Nazis and then escaping to America with his parents. He was an amazing man, and after almost twenty years, I still miss him dreadfully.

Thank you, Tatiana, for this thread. And my warm wishes to everyone who posts here, as well as to all the Dads, both living and gone.

Dad,

We were never that close…a result of both of us being so damn hardheaded. There are things that I would love to tell you now if you were here. Things that I need help with. I know that I am 38, but sometimes I really need you. More so now then I thought possible. I am honored that your last words on this earth were to me… “I love you too”. I was fortunate to be beside you when you took your last breath. I laid my head on your chest and felt it rise for the last time. I was able (I hope) to comfort you for once…I am only sad that it was when you were leaving. Happy Fathers Day. I love you.

My dad was an abusive, selfish, ass who died in a car accident when I was 13, but I still miss him and love him.

My daughter's dad died in a car accident 8 years ago and we miss him and love him very much.

His father died in a drowning accident when he was only 2 years old.

RIP Daddies, you are loved and missed.

RIP DAD-

I give thanks that I was gifted for you being my father/mentor/hero.

He held my hand on my first day, and I held his on his last day.

http://www.photohome.com/pictures/baby-pictures/dad-and-baby-hands-1a.jpg

My dad died in 1996 after a two-year battle with cancer. I took care of him through most of it, and was with him when he died.

He grew up in an orphanage on the Lower East Side of NYC. Because he was in this orphanage, part of Settlement House, he was taken to ball games, operas, symphony concerts, plays. Lots of wealthy, established Jewish families in NYC did this as charity for the orphans of immigrants. So I have my dad to thank for my love of classical music and opera. For example, when I was a kid he took me to see Leonard Bernstein's Young People's Symphony.

He was in a M.A.S.H. unit in WW2, and was part of the Normandy Invasion. He was very proud of the fact that he saved people, instead of killing them, during the war.

When he came back from the war, he worked to put his sister through nursing school. He never had the time or money to finish his own education--he was a high-school dropout, but he was really well read and could quote Shakepeare and Ogden Nash (his favorite poet) among others. His sister became a nurse at Bellevue Hospital and eventually, the director of infectious disease control for NYC, but my dad worked in a factory for thirty years. He told me he'd set up complicated math problems every morning and spend all day on the assembly line figuring them out to keep his mind occupied. Eventually he opened a small coin and stamp store, but he stayed with the factory until he got full benefits and pension.

He read to me and my sister--bedtime stories were often from the Damon Runyan Omnibus (Guys and Dolls stories). He sang us songs from Gilbert and Sullivan operettas and taught us how to do the Lindy Hop. He had a childlike sense of humor, could be really goofy, and rarely got angry.

Happy Father's Day, daddy.

A very good point well made.

I cant really express myself well enought to get involved in writting.

(one day i might just figure out how he went from 'fucking old lunatic' to "yeah, maybe he has got a point" i have kids now, maybe thats part of it)

Lost Cause said:

He held my hand on my first day, and I held his on his last day.

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This line is beautiful. Way to make me cry.

's for children who have fathers who have passed on.

This thread makes me weepy, but happy.

My son's father died last year while I was pregnant. They'll never get to know each other and that's what really breaks my heart. Off to the cemetary now with a Father's Day card and an 8 mo. old who will miss out on a lifetime without a terrific dad like Brian.

The mailman was a real special guy.

December said:

This line is beautiful. Way to make me cry.

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It's true.

I held on long after he passed just memorizing every callus, scar, and line in them after all the years of living for his family.

My brother and I stayed with him until the morgue came-escorting his body to the hearse before releasing him forever.

Happy Father's Day Daddy. I miss you terribly.

(I do hope he is not reading this, as I would then know he knows that I visit this site) =)

BUT I do love and miss him.

Father's Day is difficult for me not because I miss him, but because I don't miss him that much. He died when I was 11 and so much of my experience of him was through anecdotes and comments about him from others.
He was a pretty considerable fellow, from all accounts: crackingly smart, considerate, interesting, and diverse. Though he had a degree in biology and worked all his life as a chemist, a few years ago we found evidence that he had begun pursuing a degree in literature. Wow... uber cool.
But he died right when I was going to need a masculine role model, and my mother became a strong influence in my life as a result.
It is astonishing how similar to him I've turned out. It would have been nice to know him more, because thereby I imagine I'd know myself a bit better.

To my dad who died last year. Not a day goes by that I don't think of you and shed a small tear. I read "Sam McGee" on your birthday and once again this morning. I can't quote it word for word like you daddy but soon ... very soon.

I love you ... R.I.P.

mine died in 2000. He was a viet nam vet and a really good guy...taught me how to ride a bike and drive a stick shift at 15...he never met my kids which saddens me the most. I miss him terribly, today, and all days.

I lost my dad in '95. It's hard to believe that much time has gone by. I love my father dearly. As I posted yesterday he will always be the man I admire and respect most. He was funny, kind, honest and hard working. He walked his talk. I still look at him in amazement that he raised 9 children (yes, all his) and didn't lose his sanity. lol! One of the things I admired in him was his ability to admit when he was wrong to one of us kids and apologize.

R.I.P. Dad

I still remember my father singing to me so I could sleep.

I'm glad someone made this thread. Every Father's Day has been painful for me since mine passed away in 2001. Mine was sudden... I never got a chance to say goodbye, and it kills me inside. It's hard to think about and it always moves me to tears to talk about it.

Happy Father's Day

Yes. I miss my dad