Day 4 - 169 -- My Dad

Today is Father's Day. I've been feeling unhinged for a few days and this may be one reason why. I've come to realize that the body clues into things that the conscious mind has to catch up with -- but not until physical and psychological signs have made themselves well known. I haven't slept well for several days -- getting to sleep late and waking early, so never getting the needed amount of restful sleep. There is also a house issue that needs tending and it looked like it might be minor, but it isn't getting any better -- a constant drip from an unexpected place. This one is a job for the plumbers to discern the source of the water <sigh>. I dislike calling landlords with bad news -- it is the only time they hear from me <bigger sigh>. And on Father's Day :(

I miss my dad every day. From infancy he was there for me, helping me see the world from differing perspectives. He was kind and generous. His gift giving was always amazing -- he knew each person well and knew what suited them best. I hope that my sense of humour does him justice. He had a bit of Irish leprechaun prankster in him <grin>. He loved to wrap gifts in artistic packages to disguise them -- made it difficult to guess most times. Other times there was no way to make it look like anything but a pillow, for example, but the creativity made it fun. Once our neighbour wasn't sure a newly planted tree would grow well. They had a bet with my father as to how well it would grow. A stake was placed by the tree to measure the growth. It did seem to grow more quickly than the neighbour expected. All were pleased, until Dad noted that he'd been changing the stake to make it look as if the tree was growing more quickly. For weeks, under cover of darkness he'd enter their yard and altered the stake. Imagine! <smile>   If there were problems with the car or the house, I'd always be able to call and he'd have an answer -- I miss that a lot and very often find myself thinking that he'd know the answer. It was a type of differential diagnoses process so that I could explain things better to whoever needed to fix things. Dad designed and built our home, several camping trailers, research instruments for my masters' thesis work and so much more. The garden was a favourite pastime for him with specialties being tomatoes, raspberries and cucumbers along with the rose garden and ever present gladiolus. I planted the Canada 150 variety of glads and have 21 spikes that have emerged from the 24 corms. I look forward to these growing and some blooming. Dad and I would stand at the plant store and look at all the new colours and bloom shapes to pick new corms each spring that were added to those from the previous years. I loved our time together -- discussing movies and books, going out for meals, or just chatting. Having someone who really understood who I was, was such a gift.

The song shared today is one that mom liked and one that Dad and I played -- he on sax and me on piano. This song from the early 1900s was covered by a Canadian singer that Dad enjoyed from her first barefoot tour across Canada in the early '70s. The arrangement for this cover is wonderful. Enjoy!
NOTE: The video for the only version I could find today is a tribute to someone else's family members. Feel free to turn off the screen and just listen to the song. Oh, and Dad's nickname was Bud <smile>.

My Buddy -- Anne Murray