Happy Birthday, Dad!

Just a little birthday tribute to my dad! Hope you enjoy my little trip down memory lane.

Here's one of my dad's baby pictures. Grandma was kind enough to let me sort through hundreds of old pictures she had and choose my favorite ones. I didn't have any pictures of my dad when he was younger, so I chose several of those. I'm thinking the outfit he's wearing here is actually red checkered, rather than pink, but he did have lovely pink cheeks!

Here he is as a young boy. He looks sweet and innocent, doesn't he? ;-) Dad used to get into everything, grandma told me. One time he crawled up on the garage roof to play. He fell off and broke his arm in the shape of an "S." He ran into the kitchen and showed grandma, who was washing dishes at the time. "Look ma! S for Superman!" Grandma fainted. Tough little kid, wasn't he? He was lucky to have only broken his arm!

Don't know much about my dad as a teenager, but here are a couple of pictures of him from when he was about 15 years old. Seems to have enjoyed fishing at one time.

Being the eldest of six children, my dad occasionally got babysitting duty. My uncle told me a story about a time when my dad was left to babysit his younger siblings and decided his brothers needed haircuts. So he lined them all up on the porch outside, put cereal bowls on their heads, and proceeded to give them bowl haircuts. He never got the chance to do that again. But then again, knowing my dad, that was probably his plan all along.

When dad was old enough, he and one of his buddies went into town to join the Air Force. As it turned out, the Air Force recruiting office was closed that day, so they went next door and joined the Navy!

A few years after dad joined the Navy, he met my mom while he was out having a drink. He noticed her dancing and wanted to meet her. So after she sat down, he went over and started to chat her up. He told her he's an Arthur Murray dance instructor and she asked him to dance with her. They got out on the dance floor, where he proceeded to trample all over her toes. So much for that line, lol. Mom evidently found him charming enough, though, because they started dating and six weeks later, they were married.

The first place mom and dad lived as a couple was New London, CT. After that, they went to Paris, France, where I was born. Here's a picture of me with my dad when I was a few hours old.

....and another of me and dad when I was a bit older....

One thing I remember about dad was his pipes. He loved to smoke pipes and cigars. We all preferred the pipes, because they smelled so much better, and he used to make pipe cleaner animals for me and my brother (very cool!) Here he is smoking one of his many pipes. Wonder how that birthday cake tasted after that?

In the years that followed we lived in several places due to my dad's military career. Some time after my dad retired from the Navy, my parents separated and my mom, brother and I moved to Florida. We didn't get to see our dad very often after their separation, but he did come to each of our graduations, and also to my grandparent's 50th anniversary (his parents), which turned out to be the last time I ever saw him. He died a few years later due to complications from his long battle with alcoholism.

In spite of his problems, he was a good man at heart. He was a very good listener when I needed to vent about anything, and I inherited his somewhat wicked sense of humor, which is good or bad, depending on who you ask. ;-)

My dad swore he was no fan of pets, but all of our pets adored him, and one of our cats even had her kittens on his lap while he slept in his recliner. You can imagine his surprise! Still I think he really had a big 'ol soft spot in his heart for animals.

Well, that's about it for my trip down memory lane. Thank you for joining me!