Father's Day is coming soon, so I want to take a few posts and talk about dads. At the end (probably around June 1 or so), I'm going to give away a copy of Brothers of the Outlaw Trail.
My dad is a cool guy. We had so much fun when I was a kid growing up. Dad worked for contractors on Wallops Island Virginia, so we lived less than 30 minutes from the beach. It's probably one of the reasons I find myself missing it the older I get. We'd go fishing, catch crabs and dig for clams and oysters, then come home and cook everything. I can still taste the melted butter and crab, and the salty taste of shell as I sucked the sweet meat from a claw.
One of my favorite memories is when we had a fun day of picnicking by the shore. Somehow Dad found a rowboat, and we piled in. This was before my youngest sister Amy was born, and Mom held Cat (#2 sister) on her lap. I of course had to be watching Dad row us across a small inlet to the other side.
Then one of his oars caught in the sand below--slid right out of his grasp. The rowboat skewed to one side. Dad tried using a single oar, but it too was getting pulled into the water by the suction of the surf. In true Dad fashion, he jumped over the side of the boat and started tugging us to the other side. Just like Humphrey Bogart in The African Queen, Mom said. I remember us laughing and laughing. I'd never seen the movie, still haven't, but the fact Dad was playing the part of a hero as he pulled us to shore stuck with me.
No, he's not perfect and I know he'd admit that. But this is one fun vivid memory I have.
What's yours? Share a short memory, and I'll put your name in the hat for a drawing for Brothers of the Outlaw Trail, just in time for Father's Day. :)
My dad is a cool guy. We had so much fun when I was a kid growing up. Dad worked for contractors on Wallops Island Virginia, so we lived less than 30 minutes from the beach. It's probably one of the reasons I find myself missing it the older I get. We'd go fishing, catch crabs and dig for clams and oysters, then come home and cook everything. I can still taste the melted butter and crab, and the salty taste of shell as I sucked the sweet meat from a claw.
One of my favorite memories is when we had a fun day of picnicking by the shore. Somehow Dad found a rowboat, and we piled in. This was before my youngest sister Amy was born, and Mom held Cat (#2 sister) on her lap. I of course had to be watching Dad row us across a small inlet to the other side.
Then one of his oars caught in the sand below--slid right out of his grasp. The rowboat skewed to one side. Dad tried using a single oar, but it too was getting pulled into the water by the suction of the surf. In true Dad fashion, he jumped over the side of the boat and started tugging us to the other side. Just like Humphrey Bogart in The African Queen, Mom said. I remember us laughing and laughing. I'd never seen the movie, still haven't, but the fact Dad was playing the part of a hero as he pulled us to shore stuck with me.
No, he's not perfect and I know he'd admit that. But this is one fun vivid memory I have.
What's yours? Share a short memory, and I'll put your name in the hat for a drawing for Brothers of the Outlaw Trail, just in time for Father's Day. :)
1 comment:
My favorite memories of my dad were during my early childhood. We lived on a huge lake, and each and every day, my dad would come home from work and take one of us three kids out in the boat fishing. Each Spring, my mom would place three numbered slips of paper in a bowl, and we'd draw to see who got to go first, then we'd rotate all spring, summer, and fall.
My dad liked to tell people I was the only fisherman of the bunch; my sister liked to play with "doll worms" (from rubber fishing lures) and my brother liked to nap.
He also taught me to fly fish by the time I was five years old! I still love it!
Post a Comment