September 12, 2020
September 12, 2020
As the two year mark nears since my father's death, it's surprising how fast time has gone by and disturbing how much time has passed. It still seems like only yesterday when I could pick up the phone and call him for any reason at all, whether I needed advice, help repairing something, or just wanted to see what was going on. One thing was always for sure, if you needed to talk to dad, he was always there. He would always be happy to offer his opinion on any situation you may be facing. One thing's for sure, you always got an honest response, whether you liked it or not. Dad always had a way with brutal honesty, you always got the truth. Things like that I've come to miss quite a bit.
I look back at all the different things my father taught me over the years. Dad was never one to call on a repairman or depend on a mechanic. He always conducted repairs himself and for the most part it worked out pretty good for him. He always showed me and my brothers how to work on our own cars and how to maintain them. Dad also performed all his own home improvement projects. Him and mom were always redecorating or modifying something around the house. He passed a lot of that experience on to me. Whether it was electrical, plumbing, or carpentry. He gave me enough knowledge to start my own handyman business. I don't know if he knew he was passing on enough info to make a career out of, in fact, I feel pretty confident that his intentions were to help us develop the ability to perform our own home repairs and improvements so we wouldn't have to hire someone to do them for us. It's kind of ironic that I've become the person that my dad always tried to avoid hiring. I doubt that he'd have a problem with it, I just think it's a little humorous is all. My old man would probably be my nightmare customer, he knew how to fix it, and wanted it done a specific way. Which is why he always did it himself.
I guess what I miss most about my father is his interaction with the grandkids. He always took an extra interest in spending time with mine and my brother's children. No matter what was going on, he loved being able to be with them, talk to them, pass on little tidbits of info, or just learn what was going on in their lives. I can think of when he took me and Wayne deep sea fishing. It was a great idea and it all seemed so prosperous. Unfortunately, I spent most of the day in the galley battling sea sickness, I'm embarrassed to say, but he took the time to get to know Wayne a little better and taught him a lot about fishing. There was the time that he came up to help me build a deck on my house, and he took that opportunity to teach Wayne and myself a good bit about carpentry, a skill that I use almost every day. He had similar experiences with Chandler, though I had the good sense to limit the fishing trip to freshwater. He still taught Chandler a good bit about fishing. I think he also enjoyed watching me having to run around and bait hooks and pull fish off of the kid's and wife's lines and so forth. I guess I had then earned the responsibility that he once had, as he enjoyed fishing without any interruptions, something I had never witnessed as a child. It was good to see him relax and share knowledge with the kids. He also taught Chandler a little about electrical repair and wiring when he came up to assist me run wiring to my shop in the backyard. Another trait that I use on the daily, and especially when I relocated to south Georgia and chose to rewire my home and replace the panel box. That job alone would have ran into the thousands of dollars if I chose to hire someone to do it, but luckily he had thoroughly explained how wiring should have been ran, and the importance of grounds, which have me the ability to conduct the work myself instead of having to pay someone else to do it. This info was also greatly beneficial as I was taking classes in electronics engineering. He gave me a strong enough foundation to be able to grasp those classes with very little experience dealing with electrical. I could sit here and say how my old man laid a path for me to be successful in the field I've gone into, but I don't really think that's the case. I can say that the experience that he has passed on to me has made it possible to be successful in the handyman business, and possibly could be the reason why I decided to get into it, but I don't think my father had any intent in steering me into any kind of career at all. He would pinpoint if he thought I was making a good choice in what I was doing for a living, as I'm sure he did the same with my brothers, but he never really set any kinds of goals or expectations on what he thought I should be doing, I guess he felt as long as we were happy and supporting our families that was all that really mattered.
I could go on for days talking about things I learned from the old man, and memories developed at the time, but I think I've expressed what I meant to. Even after almost two years has passed, I still miss my father, and I'm grateful for the things he taught me, which I often utilize on a daily basis, in a career that I would have never gotten into if it wasn't for his knowledge that he passed on to me. I'm sure as more time passes, I'll realize more valuable things that I learned from dad, but for now, I'll make the most out of what he taught me, and hopefully he will live on in his grandchildren's thoughts as well. He always had a special love for the five grandkids he had. I'm sure there are many good memories that they will never forget also. It's a real shame that dad never had the chance to meet his great grandchild. I'm sure he would have really loved being able to. Something that I look forward to doing in the next couple of months. My brother and I used to tease each other about having to hear dad's stories over and over again, nothing harmful or brutal in any way, but something we often would home about. Now I think I would gladly listen to some of those old stories over again just to be able to spend some time with the old man. It's funny how some of the things that someone does that kind of drives you crazy sometimes becomes something that you miss about them. Funny old world, isn't it?
I look back at all the different things my father taught me over the years. Dad was never one to call on a repairman or depend on a mechanic. He always conducted repairs himself and for the most part it worked out pretty good for him. He always showed me and my brothers how to work on our own cars and how to maintain them. Dad also performed all his own home improvement projects. Him and mom were always redecorating or modifying something around the house. He passed a lot of that experience on to me. Whether it was electrical, plumbing, or carpentry. He gave me enough knowledge to start my own handyman business. I don't know if he knew he was passing on enough info to make a career out of, in fact, I feel pretty confident that his intentions were to help us develop the ability to perform our own home repairs and improvements so we wouldn't have to hire someone to do them for us. It's kind of ironic that I've become the person that my dad always tried to avoid hiring. I doubt that he'd have a problem with it, I just think it's a little humorous is all. My old man would probably be my nightmare customer, he knew how to fix it, and wanted it done a specific way. Which is why he always did it himself.
I guess what I miss most about my father is his interaction with the grandkids. He always took an extra interest in spending time with mine and my brother's children. No matter what was going on, he loved being able to be with them, talk to them, pass on little tidbits of info, or just learn what was going on in their lives. I can think of when he took me and Wayne deep sea fishing. It was a great idea and it all seemed so prosperous. Unfortunately, I spent most of the day in the galley battling sea sickness, I'm embarrassed to say, but he took the time to get to know Wayne a little better and taught him a lot about fishing. There was the time that he came up to help me build a deck on my house, and he took that opportunity to teach Wayne and myself a good bit about carpentry, a skill that I use almost every day. He had similar experiences with Chandler, though I had the good sense to limit the fishing trip to freshwater. He still taught Chandler a good bit about fishing. I think he also enjoyed watching me having to run around and bait hooks and pull fish off of the kid's and wife's lines and so forth. I guess I had then earned the responsibility that he once had, as he enjoyed fishing without any interruptions, something I had never witnessed as a child. It was good to see him relax and share knowledge with the kids. He also taught Chandler a little about electrical repair and wiring when he came up to assist me run wiring to my shop in the backyard. Another trait that I use on the daily, and especially when I relocated to south Georgia and chose to rewire my home and replace the panel box. That job alone would have ran into the thousands of dollars if I chose to hire someone to do it, but luckily he had thoroughly explained how wiring should have been ran, and the importance of grounds, which have me the ability to conduct the work myself instead of having to pay someone else to do it. This info was also greatly beneficial as I was taking classes in electronics engineering. He gave me a strong enough foundation to be able to grasp those classes with very little experience dealing with electrical. I could sit here and say how my old man laid a path for me to be successful in the field I've gone into, but I don't really think that's the case. I can say that the experience that he has passed on to me has made it possible to be successful in the handyman business, and possibly could be the reason why I decided to get into it, but I don't think my father had any intent in steering me into any kind of career at all. He would pinpoint if he thought I was making a good choice in what I was doing for a living, as I'm sure he did the same with my brothers, but he never really set any kinds of goals or expectations on what he thought I should be doing, I guess he felt as long as we were happy and supporting our families that was all that really mattered.
I could go on for days talking about things I learned from the old man, and memories developed at the time, but I think I've expressed what I meant to. Even after almost two years has passed, I still miss my father, and I'm grateful for the things he taught me, which I often utilize on a daily basis, in a career that I would have never gotten into if it wasn't for his knowledge that he passed on to me. I'm sure as more time passes, I'll realize more valuable things that I learned from dad, but for now, I'll make the most out of what he taught me, and hopefully he will live on in his grandchildren's thoughts as well. He always had a special love for the five grandkids he had. I'm sure there are many good memories that they will never forget also. It's a real shame that dad never had the chance to meet his great grandchild. I'm sure he would have really loved being able to. Something that I look forward to doing in the next couple of months. My brother and I used to tease each other about having to hear dad's stories over and over again, nothing harmful or brutal in any way, but something we often would home about. Now I think I would gladly listen to some of those old stories over again just to be able to spend some time with the old man. It's funny how some of the things that someone does that kind of drives you crazy sometimes becomes something that you miss about them. Funny old world, isn't it?
