Well, here I am writing another tender post. I miss my Dad. He has been gone five years today. May 1st. 2004. Occasionally I drive by his house and reminisce time spent there the last few years of his life. We spent a lot of time there taking care of his yard and cleaning his house. These are great memories for me. Dad took great pride in having a nice yard.
It was such a special time in being able to help take care of Dad., after he got ill. He was always so kind. Dad was all about love!!!! I had a great Dad. He loved the Lord, was such a hard worker, so organized, loved to serve people and put on a great party, those luaus are memorable. He was a loyal friend, and was such a tease, Justin has gotten that trait. He always had a story to tell, for most of my life I believed every word. He made sure my childhood was the best. Disneyland every summer, Horseback riding every Thursday, Annual Cowboy Breakfast, steak cookouts, story telling on the sun-deck. We really never wanted for any material thing , he was a great provider. He was a great man, a great Dad and grandpa. I miss his early 6:00 Tuesday morning phone call, "Are you making me something good to eat today?" Oh, how he loved green chili corn bread. He never complained, he was always so positive about life. Even the last day of his life, we had such a great conversation, expression of love for each other and the family when all along he was in a lot of discomfort, little did we know how much fluid was building inside of his body.
I miss his hugs.
His sayings:
"Don't take any wooden nickels"
"What's the price of wheat in Shang-hi?"
"Its cuuute"
"Aseeta balancha aseeta papoo"
"I see London I see France, I see (insert name here) 's underpants."
"You know the song of the shepherd's serinade? ... BAAA BAAAA"
"There's a place in France where the naked ladies dance. There's a hole in the wall where the men can see it all." (just imagine his signature peck muscle flexation)
"Pop-eye the sailor man"
"Now, now."
These are just a few examples of my witty Dad's humor.
We always knew he wasn't happy when he would say, "We need to have a pow wow."
..... Dad I love you. And I miss you!
Let us all remember Lavon or is it LaVaun, or LaVaughn or Vaughn, A. Wright???
This morning I attended the 5:30 a.m. session at the Temple . When I got to the assembly room and sat down, the song Love at Home was playing, and then today just as we were closing the Antique shop at 4:00, "Dancing with my Father" by Luther Vandross started playing on the radio, (Dad passed away at 4:00p.m.) Do you think he was close by today? Now mother and Dad are together preparing a place for us, I wonder how many dogs and horses will be there. I forgot to mention his love for animals, do you think Liz has followed in those footsteps? Love you sista.
Dad was in a lot of parades, preparing for those events was a big endeavor, I think Lo and I probably have more memories of this. Gosh, I had such a great childhood, THANK YOU to my wonderful parents. I miss you both dearly. ALOHA
9 comments:
When I think of Grandpa, one of the first things that comes to mind is giving him a big kiss and hearing him say, "I love you!" And then all the jokes and stories he would always tell. I miss him. I'm so thankful that he came over to the house to visit with me/ us before I left on my mission. It was hard not to be there at home when he past away, but I know that he and Grandma were both there with me on my mission. I'm so blessed for a wonderful family heritage. I hope to carry on this great legacy that they have left us.
by the way if I haven't told you already, I LOVE your blog. It's always great to look at your posts and listen to your selected music- even more so when I'm homesick.
mom, thank you for your post! i was so blessed to have grandpa in my life! he was the best! i sure miss him too! i cant believe its been 5 years, time sure has gone by fast. i miss everything about him. i loved cleaning his house every Saturday, i know he loved us coming over to help him out. he was definitely all about love! I know he misses us too! Thanks for being a great mom and continuing to share memories of grandpa! love you mama!
Oh the great memories of grandpa! My mom and I were just talking about him the other day. I too remember cleaning his house and finding the chewed gum on the back of his bedpost :) you got to put it somewhere when you go to sleep right? Lexi has inherited that trait.hahaha I think my favorite was his birthday presents. When he have jason one of his old shirts with gum in the pocket. Or the old chocolate that had those white spots on it. I just think it was so cute. We would laugh but we felt love. He always remembered everyones' birthday and made us feel special. Thats what I miss the most! He was the cutest grandpa around! I love him and miss him so much too! What a great family he has created! I am so happy that he gets to be with grandma and I can't wait to see him again!!
Ps I love all the songs you heard that day. He really was close by!! :)
Oh man Lucille, what a tender post. I didn't remember it was the day he passed away (I'm really bad with dates) but I must've subconsciously because I kept having all these Grandpa memories. Gracie wanted to but a Big Hunk at the grocery store and I told her of my birthday when my Grandpa gave me a whole box of them. And then later in the evening Kris popped one of Rex' toes and he said he didn't like it and I just laughed and said my grandpa used to do that to us all the time. I remember one time Grandma and Grandpa were taking me somewhere and we were in the car and lost and they were arguing over directions or something and Grandpa was just laughing and saying "oh, Norma" can you just picture it? And I loved playing with his shoe shiner. I have so many regrets, I really feel like I dropped the ball in the last years of his life and didn't visit him enough, I just hope he knows how very much I love him.
Its Sunday night, the end of a long week! So I go to your blog and now Im crying!!!! I love and miss Mom and Dad so much!!! My home teachers came over today, one of which is Carl Gunnell. He stirred up a memory I had with Dad. He was telling me about his childhood, he said he use to love to ride horses with his brother, he remembered riding on the back of the horse, holding on to his brother and feeling safe and feeling not a care in the world. I instantly remembered riding on the back of the horse with Dad, putting my arms around Dads round belly, riding fast , making sharp turns, never feeling scared, just safe with my Dad with him holding the reins. We have a good Dad! Who will you ever meet in your life, that would greet a robber stealing your wallet and them saying " Well hello there how can I help you?" Only our Dad, the kindest man I will ever know! Dad loved everyone! His words ring in my ears always, Wheres your faith? is what I hear most these days. I loved when he called me baby girl! Memories are great, what a great family we have! We were loved!!! I love you sister! ALOHA!!! Tiny Bubbles!!!
Oh Grandpa! Your blog is amazing. We are lucky you wrote this post, reminding us of our heritage, not that I could ever forget, but you know what I mean. I love the sayings Grandpa said the most, actually I didn't know most of those. What a character. Actually the day Wes and I first talked/saw each other I was on my way to see Grandpa, and he passed away that night. Strange timing, isn't it, but I like to take it as a good omen.
Lucille,
Your father sounds like an amazing ma. How blessed we are yo have been raised by such great fathers. How exciting it will be to reunite with all of our love ones again. I love your family and admire you so much.
i'm going to be honest...
i didn't read this post.
i can't. i'm too emotional and i know it will leave me crying for far too long.
i miss grandpa.
thanks for posting this though, i will come back and read it when i'm feeling up to it.
just seeing him again brought back some great memories.
what a good man, that dad of yours was...
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