Post your favorite memories of you with your father

[mvd]

When I was a young child, we used to shower together, and we made up "rain monsters." Yes, there were good and bad ones, but they were never scary.

Also when I was young, we'd root on those Redskins and Orioles just like we root on the Philly teams together today.

He would take me for ice cream and tickle me.

More recently, we shared a very nice trip to Williamsburg together. We'll always be close, and there are more memories than I can think of right now.

[mahina]

1. He would dive with me, no mask, just fins,

I'd hold on around his neck and he'd dive down to where the fish were everywhere. When we went to the neighbor islands he knew all the magic spots, from boy scouts growing up, from camping all those summers on Kaua'i and the Big Island.

He loved adventures, so one summer, the summer he came home from Vietnam, we drove across the whole country three times.

[blue neen]

2. There are so many wonderful memories.

My dad cried when he walked me down the aisle on my wedding day. It was so touching; I can still see the scene like it was yesterday--I've been married 25 years.

[flvegan]

3. My dad bought me my first baseball bat.

I can remember him buying it and the batting tape (I got to pick them out). It was an Adirondack, Pete Rose model, I think. He showed me how to wrap it. Then, for the first time in YEARS, we went outside and he pitched to me so I could learn to hit. It was 1980, I think, and I started Little League the next year. I used that bat, too, and I was pretty good.

My mom and dad were separated at the time, so I didn't see him as much as I'd have liked.

My dad was also very much into boats. He had this big Grady White, and I can remember every time we went out on it.

[livetohike]

4. Pirates games at Forbes Field in Pgh.

and too many other great memories, but watching Roberto Clemente play while sitting in the right field seats is my favorite memory of times with my Dad.

Also, driving places in his old '53 Chevy and he would sing....he had a great singing voice. I'll never hear "Sentimental Journey" without thinking about my Dad :-).

(My Dad died this past Nov. It is a hard day for me today.)

[mvd]

6. I'm sorry

Please accept this :hug:.

[livetohike]

8. Thanks mvd for the hug

and thanks for helping me to remember good times with my Dad. It's hard to erase the memories of the last month of his life....your thread is helping me more than you know. :hug: back at you!

[mvd]

9. You're very welcome!

Glad I could help. :hi:

[RPM]

7. my dad used to take me to ride the trolleys

We'd get a weekend family pass for like $7 and ride all the south hills lines (35, 36, 37, 42).

Sometimes, afterward, we would get oysters at the Gandy Dancer. That was always fun.

[jayctravis]

5. My Dad and I used to take summer vacations together...

And we had gone a couple of times to Disney. We were at Epcot when it first opened (I was like 13 or 14) and we both revelled, he being an aviation/science nut, and me similarly being into anything cool.

Just a couple of years ago we had the opportunity to go to Disney again. On the Spaceship Earth ride at the very top you are treated to a vista of the Earth from space, with stars everywhere. As we entered the planetarium in the vehicle he nudged me excitedly and claimed "This is my favorite part!!"

So floating in open space with my Father, looking at the Earth.

[malmapus]

10. I was sitting here thinking what is my fav memory

But then you mentioned sports.

When I was like 8 or 9 my dad started taking me to Braves games. It was our weekly thing on Friday nights, sometimes would be special and go during the week when I would have school the next day lol.

But this is back when the Braves absolutely SUCKED, so Atlanta Fulton Country Stadium would be almost dead.

We would do our 2 person wave up in the stands.

But yeah, I miss those times.

He would also take me fishing, most of the time we'd drive the 2 hours from Fayette Country to West Point Lake and fish for Crappy, Brim or Bass. More often that not we'd go home empty handed heh, or a couple of colds like this one miserable day lol.

[Maestro]

11. Playing ball,

wrestling on the floor, just horsing around.

[SOteric]

12. Papa read to me,

not Faery Tales, he read Dante to me in Italian. I loved the lyrical cadence of his voice. Sometimes he'd stop and explain something. Sometimes when we were up late and getting silly, we'd make up funny Limericks together just the two of us. I'm fairly certain that those moments are responsible for my deep love of poetry.

[CountAllVotes]

13. Dad used to take me camping

Mother never liked camping, but Dad did and he'd take me with him. He was such a very fine man. I sure do miss him a lot. He passed away several years ago and he just loved Father's Day and everything that went with being a father.

I remember when he took me camping once when I was very young, I had over 100 mosquito bites on my neck and he took me to the store which was a long drive from where we were camping and bought me some calamine lotion for the mosquito bites and counted them all for me. We laughed I remember.

God I miss my father. :cry:

I guess I'll never stop grieving for him for he was a fine fine man indeed.

Dad: If you are reading and hearing this message :loveya: and I am trying to be happy.

:kick:

[maveric]

14. Dad was a news journalist who got special "passes" for events.

When the "Clyde Beatty Cole Bros." circus came to town, Dad got backstage passes. He brought my brothers and I into the back area and trailers of the performers. We got to see the clown putting on their makeup, the Bearded Lady gave us cokes, the Sword Swallower gave us a private show, we watched them feed the Tigers and Lions and shook hands with the chimps.
We were privileged! No other kid got to do that, but Dad made sure we did every year.
Also during the 60's dad brought us boys to several peace demonstrations in the greater Boston area.
He was true-blue Kennedy dem/liberal and possibly the most interesting man I have ever known.

[NNadir]

15. I have so many happy memories of my father...it would be hard to pick one

moment.

He's gone 12 years now, and I miss him enormously. I especially miss him since becoming a father myself.

His guidance, insight and love would have been much appreciated.

[skygazer]

16. All time best memory of my dad

When I was 15, we got a new horse. We'd looked at this horse the previous year when he was up for sale but couldn't take him at that time and someone else did. The following year, we were in different circumstances and we heard he was available again so my dad called and took him, sight unseen. We'd already handled and ridden him the year before so it seemed reasonable.

The plan was for us to drive over to where he was and I would ride him home. I'd be riding about 25 miles on dirt roads and woods trails alone. When we went to get him, we discovered why he was available again - the people who'd taken him knew nothing about horses and he was now flighty, wild, and impossible to catch. There were 5 or 6 guys there and they talked to my dad while I went out in the field and tried to sweet talk him.

They told my dad that every one of them had been thrown by this horse, that he was the devil himself and that it wasn't worth a person's life to mess with him. I finally caught him and began saddling him up and it then dawned on these guys what was going on. One of them asked my dad, completely incredulous, "You're going to let that little girl ride that horse all that way alone?!"

And my dad calmly replied, "Yeah. She can handle it."

Which I did. It wasn't an easy ride but it was made a lot easier by the knowledge that my father had complete and utter faith in my ability, which he always has had. He and I have had our ups and downs but that has always meant so much to me.

[Terran]

17. Singing "The Twelve Days of Christmas"

barbershop quartet style, with his three best friends at a party my parents gave when I was little. He loved loved loved Christmas, and was a very generous, jolly man (and even though he was a registered Republican, he taught me much of what I know about being a Progressive).