Vintage Dad #2

Vintage Dad #2

 

Picking Worms on 45 W. Van Buren

The cist on the back of his neck

Watching Yankees in the Shafer’s kitchen

Driving Bus as a sub for Oswego Public Schools

Working at Ontario Orchards when he didn’t have a job

Roofing with Ralph Pauldine during summer vacation

Wearing that thick A.C.E. tie one Wednesdays

Officiating our break time four square matches

Sawing Veneer logs down on the Oswego River

Watching fast pitch softball under the lights

The night you wept over Tim and I looking at pornography

Bailing hay at Uncle Rick’s farm

Watching Syracuse lacrosse at the Carrier Dome

Getting horsy rides on your lap and getting bucked off

The sound of your voice during our Nerf basketball tourneys 

Keys for Kids being read to us at breakfast

Family nights singing around the piano

Watching you read the paper in the lazy boy

The patience you exhibited sharpening the saw

When you taught Tim how to drive a stick and we laughed till we cried

Watching Georgetown vs. North Carolina at the Hewitt Union

Trips to Bev’s for ice cream and a sunset on Lake Ontario

The time you flipped the three wheeler with Tim and tried to hide it from mom

When you woke us up in the middle of the night to watch March Madness

Taking me out into the woods to talk about the Birds and the Bees

The trip up into Canada with the Field’s 5^th wheeler

Skipping rocks down at Rudy’s on peaceful evenings

Hitting us grounders at “the field” to sharpen our fielding skills

Sitting in the cellar next to the wood stove watching T.V.

Hanging tinsel on the Christmas tree when that was a thing

You singing “Rise and Shine and give God the glory” to wake us up

Watching you shave and then trying myself when I was alone

The feel of your whiskers on my face after sitting in a chair with you

Seeing you crying at my wedding in Des Moines

You giving me grandpa’s 8N Ford Tractor and wood wagon as my inheritance

The way you scratched your head at night while watching the news

Listening to you talk to the cop when we got pulled over on the way to you parents

Transplanting the Maple Trees from the Bartlett’s back yard

Listening to you promote Southwest Oswego Christian School to local churches

Going to different stores with you to apologize for stealing…heart pounding.

Visiting you in the VA hospital in Syracuse and watching you decline

Seeing you taken away to be Care-Flighted to Pittsburg for you transplant