My dad would have been 65 today. That is very strange. He has been gone 20 years now and it really is only on 2 days a year that I get sad when think about him. The day he died, February 7, 1994, and his birthday, March 18, 1949.
In the past I have written things down that I remembered out him. I wrote down 17 things the year it had been 17 years since he died and then last year when he turned 64 I took those 17 and added 50 more things that I remembered so that was 67. I want to to try to get to 100 things. It gets harder and harder to remember things though so that is why I am posting the old ones and adding the new ones so they are all in the same place.
1. He took us all to Yellowstone in our big gray van hooked up to our camp trailer.
2. He ordered coal every winter to burn in our fireplace.
3. One year, a day or two before Christmas I found him in my room drilling a hole in the wall between my parents room and my room and pulling wires through. He was connecting a phone line to my room. That was the year I got a turquoise blue phone.
4. He had a money clip. It was gold and had an S on it with crystals or diamonds or something set in it. The "S" was for Southland Coorporation who he worked for. They were the company that owned 7-11.
5. He roto-tilled our garden every spring.
6. He built us a cool playhouse.
7. He always gave my mom and all of us girls corsages for Mother's Day.
8. He used to work in the basement with our neighbor Paul Uri. They were building a computer.
9. I can see him the day the basement flooded in the front yard of our house digging through the snow that was about a foot deep, looking for the water main to shut off the water.
10. He had a red Nissan Pulsar that I totally loved to drive. Erin and I almost drove to Evanston in it one time but I got nervous so we turned around.
11. He wanted to video tape everything. We had to wait for him to get the video camera set up on the tripod before we could come out to see what Santa or the Easter bunny brought.
12. He liked our hair all curly for Sunday so my mom would wash our hair in the sink and spend the evening rolling it in pink curlers.
13. He always had a black plastic comb in his back pocket.
14. He did not like to hunt or fish.
15. He had 1000 long sleeved dress shirts that I got paid 50 cents each to iron on Saturdays. I hated it.
16. He was a runner. He ran lots of marathons.
17. He was always bringing home new and interesting treats because he was the buyer for 7-11 and the companies gave him samples to try.
1. He was a photographer and developed his own photos in a darkroom that we had in our house in Lindon.
2. He planted a garden every year. We got to weed it-not my favorite. He would roto-till and then we would all plant the seeds. We didn't have a sprinkler system so he watered it by hand and I think we irrigated too.
3. He gave my mom jewelry probably every Christmas. She had a ring of almost every stone like sapphire, ruby, emerald, opal and others. I got to wear the sapphire ring to prom because that was the color of my dress.
4. He had a piggy bank in his closet that he kept his saving/Christmas money in.
5. He took us to Disneyland and Knot's Berry Farm.
6. He liked having new cars. We spent many an afternoon in car dealerships.
7. He loved diet coke and would stack the 6 pack bottles like bricks in our garage waiting for the day that they would turn them in for recycling.
8. He had a green house out back that he built.
9. He would let us comb his hair and put barretts in it while he sat in front of us while watching TV.
10. He built a sauna in the basement and solarium off the back porch in the Lindon house.
11. He wore sports jackets with those sued patches on the elbows.
12. When we would go on trips he would hook up a small TV to a VCR in the back of the big van so that we could watch movies.
13. He would take us camping at Payson Lakes. We would play in the lake in those yellow float tubes.
14. We had a tent trailer at one time and then we upgraded to a regular RV. It had bunk beds in the back.
15. He would travel sometimes for work. I know that he and my mom went to San Antonio and he went to Winnipeg. They also went to Hawaii, The Virgin Islands and somewhere in Mexico.
16. He was very generous. Laurel and I both got these particle board kitchen sets for Christmas one year. We each got one because we were spoiled like that. A few years later he took one of them and fixed it up to give to his brother's kids for Christmas.
17. He gave Grandma Gessel amethyst earrings one year for Christmas.
18. We would go up to Logan every year on the day after Christmas to see his family. We never stayed the night there though.
19. He took a picture of me and Laurel out in a field of flowers in dresses that my mom had made us.
20. The weekend before he died he gave me $200 because I had wrecked my car the week before. I hung on to those 2 hundred dollar bills for a long time.
21. He let me teach his Sunday school or Primary class once or twice when I was 16. I couldn't have been much older than the kids I was "teaching".
22. We had one of those hugely ginormous satellite dishes in our house in Lindon. We probably could have contacted NASA with that.
23. My dad was really smart with math and science stuff and could help me with my homework.
24. He loved for us to play the piano and made us get up in the dark morning hours so that we would practice before school. He made Laurel and me both get up at the same time and go into the cold, closed off piano room . Whoever wasn't practicing got to lay by the heater and sleep. We had to do it for a whole half hour!
25. We had a dog named Fred that we got for Christmas. He peed on my mom's blue carpet in the fancy living room. I hated that dog. He bit me and he was mean.
26. My dad installed this tall streetlight light in the backyard. It lit up the whole yard and made it really hard to sneak off and go toilet papering.
27. He would eat this huge bowl of frozen yogurt at night before bed/
28. He would eat that puffed corn square cereal that I can't remember the name of and pour honey all over it.
29. We had lots of grapes/grape juice in our fruit room and he would make us Shirley Temples out of it.
30. He always always always had a mustache.
31. He had a collection of beer steins from Budweiser or something that he had been given over the years while working for 7-11.
32. One year he got me a job at 7-11 up the road from our house in Orem, on 8th south and my job was to blow up helium balloons for about 4 hours every Saturday during football season. 7-11 was a sponsor of something for the BYU football games.
33. He would give out slurpee coupons for things at church and at my mom's school for prizes.
34. We ate a lot of slurpees and a treat was to go to 7-11.
35. He took our family to the Shakespeare Festival in Cedar City every summer for as long as I could remember.
36. He pulled me and Chris out of the swimming pool after he jumped into the deep end right when we got to the hotel. I jumped in after Chris to save him and then my dad saved both of us.
37. He saved Suzanna's life when she choked on a quarter.
38. He saved Laurel's life when she stuck her fingers into the mixer as she was making cookies-ok so I don't think she would have died but he did help her.
39. He seriously wanted us to put water in the mac and cheese when we made it because the milk in it made Chris cough. I did not like water in the mac and cheese.
40. In the winter he would run on the treadmill in the big house in Orem.
41. We had a piece of property that they were going to build a house on in Orem close to where they actually did buy a house later. The property was in an asparagus patch. I think we would pick it and take it home and eat it.
42. My mom says that he didn't like spaghetti and that's why we didn't eat it very often.
43.He took us to church every Sunday and took us to Stake Conference in the old building in AF that had no AC and hard hard benches.
44. He went swimming with us but he didn't like to get his hair wet.
45. We would go on family bike rides around the "big block" and the "little block" in Lindon.
46. He taught me how to ride my bike and roller skate.
47. He wanted us all to get married in the temple, go to college and go on missions and he would ask us 5 questions every night as he was tucking us into bed. Theses are the questions and the answers that we gave back to him. 1. Who loves you? (mom and dad) 2. Where are you going to get married? (the temple) 3. Are you going to college? (yes) 4. Are you going on a mission? (yes) 5. Can you always come home? (yes)
48. He came and got me once from a party that I was really uncomfortable at because of the games that they were playing.
49. He rescued me off the Veenker's playhouse when I climbed up there and then was too scared to get down by myself.
50. He had a testimony. His favorite Primary song was "Shine On" and when we would have FHE and sing songs around the piano he would always choose that one.
Wow! I can't believe that I remembered that many things. With those 50 and the other 17 from before, I
did get over 64 for his birthday! Happy Birthday dad! I miss you and love you and know that I will see you again.
****Edit I remembered a few more things and so I am going to add to this list whenever I remember something else so that I don't forget.
1. He would take us out on "dates". I can't remember if it was once a month or what but mom and dad took turns each taking one of us to do something with them. Dad would always let me choose-I think-and I always wanted to go to the mall and go to the Cloud Nine store and the little store in the middle outside Cloud Nine that had something to do with Hello Kitty. They were both knick knacky kinds of places with novelty type items. I'm pretty sure that was not his favorite thing to do but he did it because I wanted to.
2. He helped me make a model of the solar system for one of my classes. I think we did it out of styrofoam balls but maybe it was a cake-I can't remember for sure.
3. He went to a daddy/daughter date with me for Merry Miss. It was a sports theme and he wore a coke baseball jersey and a ball cap. I wore a yellow oversized sweatshirt because I was a "cheerleader". They took pictures of each of the dads and daughters. He had a big wad of gum in his mouth and blew a bubble right when they took the picture. I have that picture somewhere.
4. Mom decorated a table for a church party and decorated it for dad's 40th birthday. He was embarrassed and was a terd about it.
All of those added up are 71 things.
March 18, 2014
72. The playhouse he built us was not just on the ground but was kind of two-story. It had a frame base underneath that was not enclosed.
73. He made us help mow the lawn at the house in Lindon. We had some heavy bushes along the front yard where snakes like to hide. They would come out when we would mow along there and scare me to death. He would come and get it and take care of it.
74. We had 2 dogs we got for Christmas one year when I was like 13 or 14. They were scotty dogs. One was for Mawmaw and Pawpaw but they didn't like it very much. We had to get up every Sunday morning and bath those dogs in the laundry room sink. Then we had to blow dry them. I H.A.T.E.D. it so so so very much.
75. He sent me flowers the day I had Cody. I still have the card.
76. He liked to eat at Sizzler when we went to Cedar City.
77. He would read to me when I was little. Micky Mouse and the Haunted House was my favorite.
78. He knew alot about astronomy and had a telescope he would let us look through.
79. He tried to start a couple of businesses. Calley's Cookies-like the pink Grandma's cookies and then a marketing company called Imagic Marketing.
80. I worked for him in his office in SLC at Imagic Marketing and my cousin Kelly did too.
81. He had a few old old trucks. He had an old old ford that was green probably from the 60's and then had a old small yellow toyota.
82. He is a twin. It was so surreal at his funeral and then at the funeral of his oldest brother Wayne to see his twin brother Randy. At Uncle Wayne's funeral I couldn't go in for a long long time because I was having a panic attack knowing that Uncle Randy was in there and he walked and talked and looked just like my dad. When I finally got up the courage to go in Uncle Randy came up to me and gave me a big big hug and it was like my dad was there with me.
83. I played the piano at my dad's funeral. I played a song from Somewhere in Time. I couldn't get through it and started crying. My grandpa came and sat by me and told me I could do it and to play it for my dad.
84. He had a gold rocking chair that he loved to sit in. I got that chair when we were first married and then I bequeathed it to my brother because it didn't match anything.
85. He was very smart and could help me with my math and science.
86. He had a rock collection that we would take over and over again for show and tell. He knew about all the different kinds of rocks. He took me up Provo canyon one afternoon to place where there was alot of obsidian. He knew about fossils too.
87. I remember a Sacrament meeting one time when I looked over and him and I could see that he had tears running down his face. The song we were singing was I Know That My Redeemer Lives.
88.When we would go to 7-11 parties and stuff he let us eat as many zingers as we wanted and drink as many chocolate milks as we wanted.
88. Every year there was a 7-11 party at Saratoga Springs across Utah Lake. We would sometimes go to Lagoon for parties too.
89. I built a shelf and had to paint it in 7th grade Arts and Crafts class. I wanted it hung in my room so he mounted it to a stud in the wall. We didn't take it with us when we moved because it would have left a huge hole in the wall where the huge screw was.
90. He liked to have a clean garage and we would get to spray out the garage and down the driveway with the hose on the weekends.
91. He would pay Susan Radmall to take care of our dog when we went on trips. She liked animals and lived right across the street.
92. One time Tom Thompson was walking down the sidewalk across the street and he had a bandana on his head. My dad hollered out "Arghh matey". Tom didn't think that was very funny but my dad did.
93. He died on a Tuesday. My mom called me at work to tell me and I didn't believe her.
94. He was buried in the Providence City cemetery and it was freezing cold with lots of snow. It may have even started to snow at the graveside.
95. He recorded movies VCR to VCR so we had copies. He edited over the naughty scene in Top Gun so for about 5 minutes there was just snow.
96. He recorded the funeral of President Kimball on tape.
97. He took a picture of a fox farm that we made copies of for each of us to have.
98. He had a lot of other stuff in his apartment when he died but we don't know what happened to it. I did get some pottery from Mexico he had and a few dishes.
99. He always had a beard and mustache.
100. He would warm up the car for us on cold mornings when we had to leave for school.
101. I remember how Calley would sleep on his chest when she was a baby. There is a picture of that somewhere.
102. He took us somewhere along the mountains between Orem and Lindon to see and feed a bunch of deer that had come down from the mountains. It was like a petting zoo sort of but you fed them and didn;t pet them.
103. He didn't like us riding 4-wheelers because he and my mom thought they were dangerous. I got grounded when they found out we rode them up at Aunt Pam's cabin.
104. He would shovel the driveway in Lindon in a puffy coat and moonboots. I hated moon boots. I wanted cute stylish girly boots. He had us put a plastic grocery bag in between the boot and the sock thing inside to keep our feet from getting wet. Apparently the moon boots were not 100% water proof.
105. He had about a billion ties to go with this billion long sleeve dress shirts. He wore dress shoes with tassels.
106. He and my mom would watch Magnun PI and Johnny Carson late at night.
107. He came to get me in the middle of the night when I was sleeping over at Wendy Veenker's and I had an earache. I slept in their bed all night mostly crying until it ruptured.
108. We used to have to take Donagel-green medicine that was very chalky for stomach aches.
109. He didn't like sports much but he watched our church sports games. I think he may have enjoyed basketball maybe the Jazz and occasionally BYU football. I think he did take us to a game or two of that. Mawmaw and Pawpaw would go to quite a few BYU football games.
110. His usual weekend attire was jeans and a 7-11 t-shirt.
111. He would watch the Cosby Show and Roseanne wit us on Thursday nights.
112. He loved my mom. No matter the crap that they went through I know that he loved her. I have a love letter that he sent her either right before or right after they were married.
113. He was always turning off the lights when we would leave them on. He was a very big night light user.
114. My parents gave me a gold ring that was shaped like a shell for Christmas one year. It was too big for my finger so he wrapped white medical tape around the bottom of it so I could wear it. My dad was so mad when he found that I had given it to my boyfriend Robert. He told me to get it back from him but Robert didn't have and said he lost it. My dad may have even called him and told him to give it back.
115. When we would get pizza and movies on the weekends it would always be from Sounds Easy that was on State Street in Orem by the Weinersnitzel. I did not like that pizza that much but it was cheap.
116. Sometimes on Saturday he would take me with him to Pay and Pak. It was Payless and the Dollar Tree are in Orem by the old Kmart. Pay and Pak was a small hard ware type store.
117. They used to shop at LaBelle's in Provo. It is where Macey's is now.
118. If he needed wood or other big hardware supplies we would go to Murano Lumber which is almost to Lindon on State Street about 1600 South. My friend's (Ciara Murano) owned that store.
119. He could grow anything and we always had a big garden. I liked to see how big the sunflowers got and he would pick them and we would pick the seeds out of them.
120. I remember very vividly when we were at the temple when Cody was going through that I could feel that he was there. I have not had that happen to me ever. I knew that he was there and that Pawpaw, and Grandpa and Grandma Gessel were there in that session with us.
So that is about 48 more things that I remembered today. It only took me most of the day to do it. I had to write a few things down when I wasn't on the computer so that I wouldn't forget them. I wish I could remember more things about him like what he liked to eat and things that he said to me. Happy Birthday Dad.
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| I was too lazy to pull this out of the frame. It hangs in my front entry. |
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