Weekend Contest in honor of dear old dad ended

[mmm611]

My mom's oldest brother passed away three years ago at 60. Since my parents and her brother and his family had a fight starting before I was born, I didn't really meet him until I was 10. I didn't really get to know him all that well, but the story goes that he used to tell my mom that he became a pediatrician so he could give little babies shots. After he died, my mom waned to make a quilt in his honor for my aunt. My aunt said he used to collect snails, so she and her online quilting friends and I made snail blocks. I think she's made 3 quilts so far, including one that now hangs in his former practice. The story behind the snails is this: A while back, the other doctors decided to see how many patients they could see. My uncle was slow, like a snail, because he took his time with each patient. This was truly reflected when he died--my dad said he thought the number of patients there was insane.

[shmily1]

When I was little, I won a lot of contests. I would win everything from gift certificates to gallons of paint to clothes, etc. They built a McDonald's here when I was about 10 and they had a grand opening (in November) with a 1-seater go cart right in front of the cash registers. It was shiny red and pretty. I registered for it and told my parents I was going to have that go cart. Well, little did I know that when they drew the name for the go cart about 5 days before Christmas and called that house, they got my dad on the phone. He was a little torn on what to do at that point. He was so proud that I had won a go cart!! That was a big ticket item way back then!! Then again, he had been having to work a lot in the evenings in the last couple months, which wasn't unusual except that it was alot and usually his working over was a little more sporatic.

On Christmas morning, we got up to find two shiny red go carts under the Christmas tree! One was a shiny red 1-seater and one was a shiny red 2-seater. Later, I would find out that the 1-seater was the one I had won from McDonald's (they had to tell me 'cause MCD wanted promo pictures!) and the other one was a used one my Dad had bought used and had been going over to his friends house at night to redo it. He hadn't had enough money to buy a new one but wanted us to have one. You could not tell it was ever used!! He had done such a good job on it!! It was a 2-seater so we could share. He made us a race track on part of the land and we had a blast! We would race around on those go carts and had that track dug out about a foot deep! I always liked driving the 2-seater best because it was not as fast and crazy, but DB 5 years younger couldn't drive the 1-seater much because he got caught missing the end of the track and went across the highway on it! Almost gave DDad a heart attack!! We rode those things for years out there, well into my teens. Lots of good memories there!

[Hedy]

There are may stories I could share about my dad. However, this being a board of Disney fans, I might as well share this story:
While I was studying abroad in Mexico, my dad had begun snowbirding it up in St. Petersburg, FL. So when my brother and DSIL said they were going to be at Universal Orlando, he decided to get a FL resident pass and head over to join them.

My dad was pretty excited about this-he greatly enjoyed theme parks, and Universal held special meaning for him as he’d been to the one in California with his late brother several years earlier (it was at his insistence that we took the da there in 1996). Now, as soon as he joined up with my brother, DSIL, her sister and her DH with an Express Pass, he was ready to get going.

They started off at the Mummy, where my brother learned the humor of a trip through a queue with Dad-he would loudly announce that he had every disease the safety signs warned about (He did!). He ended up riding the Mummy four times, and he got soaked on the Jurassic Park ride (My DSIL was able to convince him not to go on Dr. Doom’s Fear Fall, a picture of him is on a test seat was on the Christmas tree we put at his grave every year). Even the mobility issues he was having due to an inner ear infection did not stop him.

About one week after the weekend, he returned to Massachusetts (he and my mother were coming to visit me). However, it was discovered that the “inner ear infection” was a brain tumor. He passed away less than two months later.

I learned a lot from my dad, and I miss him when at Disney and Universal. If nothing else, I want you to consider the idea of going to Universal less than two months after you’d pass away as your lesson for today, or your point to ponder.

[tarheelpat]

My dad was a country farmer who seldom traveled out of North Carolina. He ran a dairy farm for a man old enough to be his father. That man's only child and five grand children moved to Florida, he went to visit and everyone went to Disney World the first year it opened. When he came back, he told my dad that it was the most wonderful place -- fun, clean, safe. My dad decided we should go. He went to a travel agent and got a package for the three of us. I was a freshman in college. We stayed offsite and went to MK two days. I mostly remember the dark rides. Even my mother, who is a nervous ninnie enjoyed them. Everyone was talking about Space Mountain, though, which had just opened. My dad decided we should ride that, too. My mother read the warnings and decided against it, but my dad was ready to go. He had never been on a roller coaster before and expected Pirates of the Carribean with a space theme. It was not what he expected. When he got off, he said that he decided if he got off of there alive he would never do anything like that again! It's been 35 years, but he still asks anyone whose been to WDW if they rode Space Mountain and proudly tells them he did.

[PSL1013]

I can still picture my grandfather sitting in his backyard with his red plaid wool coat on smoking those stinky cigars and listening to the RedSox game on the radio. He loved the RedSox and listened to all the games. He was my paternal grandfather and lost his only child, a son (my father) to an auto accident when my father was in his twenties and I was only 4 years old...He walked me down the isle at my wedding 40 years ago this coming September, he was so proud and I miss him so much .....so many memories of both him and my grandmother.

[DarcyDog]

My best memory was participating in an annual play put on by the alumni association of my dad’s high school. The play was “The Sound of Music” and my father having 5 children at the time was a natural to play Captain Von Trapp and my 2 brothers and my sister and I were cast as Von Trapp children. We live in Pittsburgh and it happens Don Brockett (Chef Brockett from Mister Rogers) was an alumni from the same school and was the musical conductor that evening. I remember thinking that the slip I was wearing under my dress was so beautiful. During the performance, I kept lifting my dress so everyone in the audience could see this great slip and I remember Chef Brockett desperately waving his hands for me to drop my dress. But most of all, I could see my dad laughing. Afterwards, although I was warned to never do that again, I still remember my dad’s laugh.

My father died suddenly at age 37 from a brain aneurysm. I was 11 years old with 3 older siblings and 2 younger siblings. Although we only had him a short time, my dad was great! He had the best sense of humor, and I remember laughing a great deal. My dad did not graduate from college until my younger brother was born so my parents were very creative in providing in all ways for 6 kids. I’m just very glad that I remember so much laughter during a time that had to be very stressful for my parents. My dad was taken from us too soon. I wish my nieces and nephews could have known him.

[lorisnuts]

This will be my first father's day without my father. He died of a ruptured aneurysm 8 days after father's day last year. I have so memories of him. My daughter giving him the nick name Papa Claus when she was 2, because of his full white beard.

But my favorite memory is also my last memory I have of him. Monday, June 22, the day after Father’s Day, my daughter had spent several days with her Papa Claus and Nana. I went to pick up my daughter. I met dad and my daughter in the parking lot of a restaurant. When they arrived dad parked his car in the space right next to mine. We got out of our cars. He leaned against his, I leaned against mine and we talked. I gave him a hard time for letting my daughter ride in the front seat of his car. He then went on about being concerned about his retirement and the future. He wanted to retire and move to Texas but didn’t know when. Then the topic changed. He wanted to tell me what a good kid my daughter was. He told me how she liked to push her limits like every other kid. He said, “don’t be so hard on her.” He was giving me advice for the future about how to raise my daughter. It was the kind of conversation we had never had before. We talked much longer that day then we normally would have. My daughter gave him a hug and brushed his beard only to get a reaction from her “papa claus.” I reached over, opened my arms, and wrapped them around him; instantly there was that voice . “Enjoy it, he may be gone soon.” I knew the voice that spoke. It was the same voice that you hear when you are in your quiet place with God. That hug was extra long as I studied the deep-set wrinkles at the corner of his eyes and his leathery sun worn skin. When I released his embrace the words I wanted to say would not come out. In my head was I trying to say…Dad go to the doctor, something is wrong. Why wouldn’t those words come out of my mouth? In my head I was screaming those words but they wouldn’t come out of my mouth. Instead I kissed his cheek, got into my car and we waved goodbye. This was the last conversation I had with my dad. He died exactly 7 days later.

[kimntrent]

My dad has always been huge in my life. He has always been there for me. I think my most fond memory however is when my sister and I got to take him to WDW after he had cancer last time. It felt so good to know that he was all better. Now we are doing it all over again and am hoping to do the same thing this time.

[spring]

My Dad passed on almost 11 years ago, but when I think of him, I remember all the "road trips" we took with him leading us in song. He had an extensive repertoire of silly songs that delighted all of us while on the road. He always kept us laughing. Just writing about this brings a smile to my face.

[loretta32965]

When I was 8, my Mother left my Father with 3 kids to raise. My 2 brothers were 4 and 5 months. She didn't want to be a wife or mom anymore. My Dad did the best he could for us, along with alot of help from his parents. He worked in a plastic factory making components for things like car breaks. He married 4 times in his life, always looking for a "mommy" for us kids. He was never truly happy until he met his current wife, Martha. A few months ago, after countless conversations with countless people, he finally went to the doctor. He had been having a hard time breathing and taking falls. The ER admitted him with 3 almost totally blocked arteries. They tried to do the procedure with a catheter to break the blockages up but it failed. He needed a triple bypass. The surgery was a success. He is really mad because he can't do what he enjoys doing yet like he used to. In the last 18 months, both of my brothers took job transfers for their jobs and they went to Kansas City and Atlanta. Dad is having a tough time missing his boys. I booked airfare for Me, Daddy, and my youngest brother for a 5 day trip to Kansas City. Using saved change, savings from coupons, lunch savings because I brown-bagged it, and SR money I was able to come up with $1200 to pay our way. Daddy is super excited! The 4 of us will be together. My step-mom doesn't want to go because of a bad experience flying last year and wants it to be Dad and the kids. My Dad has a very slow-progressing lung cancer from working with plastic components for over 20 years and it decided to rear it's ugly head right after his bypass. I might not have him for Father's Day next year so I want our trip to be the best. I have a ton of memories, warm, fuzzy feelings, and lessons learned from him. I'm hoping our best are yet to come in Kansas City on my brother's back porch in August.