Sunday, June 15, 2008

In honor of Father's Day!!

FIRST (and partly for my own amusement)

stupid things some people's parents have said:

"STOP CRYING OR I'LL GIVE YOU SOMETHING TO CRY ABOUT!!"
The logic of this one has eluded me for years and years....OH! Maybe because there IS no logic to it.

"WHEN I SAY JUMP I WANT YOU TO SAY 'HOW HIGH?'" This used to drive fear into my heart when my father would say it, but now it makes me giggle. i'm sure he would have preferred a snappy salute and a "SIR!" at the end of the "How high?" Oddly, i'm pretty sure that neither myself or my siblings ever actually answered this request.

One of my personal favorites from a father of a friend:
"I WANT WHAT I WANT!!" Okay, you and every 2 year old in the nation--what makes you think you're special?

SECOND (and because i really really mean this and it's the real point of the post)

HUUUUGE blessings and kudos to all the men out there who avoided those sorts of inane statements, and who have instead provided loving encouragement and guidance. Not to say that you never raised your voice or got frustrated, i mean come on, we're all human...
So, HAPPY FATHER'S DAY TO ALL THE GOOD GUYS AND ROLL MODELS OUT THERE! i hope you know who you are, and know how much we appreciate you. That includes you, my dear hubby.

9 comments:

Unknown said...

Oh now, let me see.... some of my personal favorites are:

"Children are to be seen and not heard!" (Probably why I was so quiet as I grew up. I don't think they knew I was even there)

#1 in the hit parade was:
"If I want anything out of you I will rattle your chain!" (for years I looked for that blasted chain and never did find it)

Great post Sis... You jumped right in there, spit it out and jumped out. Happy Father's Day to the Dad in your house.

Anonymous said...

Right on.
I miss my dad still and it's been 48 years.

My children had their Dad until 5 years ago and he was always there for them.

They are surely missed!

Silliyak said...

I relate to the "STOP CRYING OR I'LL GIVE YOU SOMETHING TO CRY ABOUT!!" I heard that alot.
I think it was likely something my dad got from his paternal grandmother who "raised" him.

Lea Ann said...

My personal favorite from my Daddy growing up ran more along the lines of being more economical. "Close the door. Are you trying to air condition the entire outdoors?". Very hot in Alabama, not possible.

Basically Daddy was a softie most of the time. When Mother threw her hands up in despair and said "Wait until your Father gets home", ya' knew you were home free.

Daddy also loves science and physics - we had long interesting discussions about surface tension of water in a glass at the dinner table. I think my older sister actually understood what he was talking about. Now my son does, and I still don't.

Daddy and Uncle Louie loved to do geeky things so much! I can remember at a company (that he worked for) picnic Daddy and Uncle Louie shouting at us to get out of the lake and come see this, come see this. They had a paper cup with a pin hole in the bottom of it and they were projecting (I guess??? - Not sure how it worked) a perfect eclipse of the sun onto a piece of paper. Of course we all immediately looked at the sun while they shouted not to look at the sun - it would hurt our eyes and that is why they did the paper thing...so we could see it. I was in elementary school and I remember the best thing about it was how much fun Daddy was having.

We had a great Father's Day - I got Daddy a case for his new MacBook notebook computer. He needs the case to take to his lessons at the Apple Store every Monday. Daddy will be 83 in a couple of weeks and he still wants the latest technology. He is very cool.

Holder went to the beach with his Dad - Jim and I came home from seeing all my family via Wetumpka and his daughter took us out to eat to celebrate. Robin had some pretty funny Daddy stories too. Another time…this is long… If your husband my cousin reads his he will surely understand that I do not think your posts are long at all.

julia said...

You guys are all great! loved the comments--and i can't believe i never heard the "rattle your chain" one before...something to add to the list, Jo!!

Connie, thank you for sharing about the dads in your life--seriously, you've had some early losses...

SillyMan, i think we relate on many levels--

Lea Ann, i am extremely jealous of you and the Daddy you've been blessed with! What a fun dad--guess that same sweet temperament was what i loved so much about his brother, the father in law i was blessed with!

Thanks you guys for not giving up on me here. ;-)

MsCatMinder said...

Julia , I thought you had stopped posting but it turns out your SubscriptionBusinessThingy had stopped informing me of your recent posts . Dont know why ?

Great post this one . I may come back and add to it tomorrow when my brain is working as my dad is still full of delightful stuff like this , though most of it said in jest . My brain dont work after 9 pm ....

julia said...

hey, Miss Kitty ;-) Now that you mention it, i had it set to notify me (curiousity, i suppose) and it quit that too. hmmm... Glad to see you! i haven't been around much in the last month, really, what with my exciting Opiates Gone Bad experience ;-)

Hinsley Ford said...

Great post! Love it. It's left me wracking my slow-butt brain for some others. Unfortunately, some from my dad were pretty R-rated, such as, "My bank balance is lower than whale sh*t!" -- which doesn't have a lot of zing to it, does it? :) And then he'd drop me off for school somedays when I was having trouble with kids in high school and leave me with, "Don't let the bastards get you down, H!" before he'd zoom off in his Lincoln.

Occasionally I would speak back to him as a teenager and say, "Well, that's YOUR opinion" and I'd hear something like "My opinion pays the bills." I know this wasn't a constant thing, but one morning at the age of 12, I came downstairs after experimenting with some makeup. I think I had a bunch of blue eyeshadow on and he was not impressed. I will never forget this one: "You have enough blue sh*t over your eyes to sink a ship!"

Dad's never been subtle.

Trying to catch up on your posties,

H

julia said...

Hi Hinsley!! Good to "see" you! i kinda like some of your dad's sayings. ;-D Oh, so colorful...