My Father

It seems like I’ve had a hard time writing about my father, my personal history that section is lacking. My father holds a special place in my heart. While growing up I was always trying to please him and have his attention, a lot like M does with G.

Anything he was interested in: books, plants, stars, science, Underdog, Popeye, Muppets, Dune, songs he sang anything doing with my dad I loved too. I took every opportunity to spend time with him, even if it meant waking up at 5:30 am and doing irrigation, or 2:00 am to watch shooting stars. I memorized A Poor Way Faring Man of Grief as a teenager, knowing that was my dad’s favorite hymn.

I have wonderful memories of eating licorice together, especially the black kind (that is my dad’s favorite) on camping trips, and feeling disappointed with myself when I couldn’t get myself to eat the raw sardines. Getting baptized was a special event I remember my father talking to me, practicing with me and helping me understand the importance of being a member of the Church and having my sins cleaned. He is a wonderful example of service, he would always take care of his widowed mother-in-law with whatever she needed.

Work is important to both of my parents, my father is always in the yard and garden working, right now the latest project is the cabin. When we were younger the yard and orchard were the big projects, I think the original idea was for us kids to work hard, but my dad did most of the pruning, tilling, planting, we might help with the picking and irrigation at times, but he did most of the work outside.

For a long time I actually didn’t know what my dad did for his profession. He is interested in so many things, I thought he worked with plants, then I asked my mom what he did and she said he was a doctor, but that confused me he didn’t seem like the doctors I had met, he was my dad. If you meet him you’d think he was a scientist, inventor, botanist, plant geneticist, astronomer, politician, or missionary. I still feel like my dad is so smart and knows about everything, and if I had a question about anything he’d probably have an answer.

My dad is a fountain of knowledge. I remember randomly he’d come in my room and share some insight of wisdom like, “the only security in life is God.” Or “sometimes our greatest strengths can be our greatest weaknesses” (I think he was referring to my over active imagination). He is very protective of his wife, children and grandchildren. Very generous, very thoughtful, he and my mom will often hire people who need help always having many projects going on at once. The way they spent money was never indulgent, money was spent on family vacations, helping others, ideas to help their children, very self-sacrificing parents.

My favorite memories are Narnia memories while growing up he probably read the whole Narnia series 5-6 times through, starting when I was in Kindergarten in Oklahoma, also he would quote us poems he had memorized like “the Raven” , stories from The Hobbit and songs from the 3Ds and cowboy songs. I remember the singing, my dad’s strong voice lulling me to sleep or entertaining us in the car with tales of the everglades, of frogs, most songs with a kind of lesson.

There has always been service in the church, every calling taken seriously and fulfilled completely. Father’s blessings, healing blessings, Family Home Evening, Sunday sharing of spiritual thoughts and lessons. Personal Priesthood Interviews (PPI’s) at least once a month especially when I was a teenager. When I was sixteen my dad took me on a date, we went out to eat at Olive Garden and saw a movie at the foreign films, I was in heaven having that one on one special memory time with my dad.

When I was eighteen I got to go on a business trip with him to San Diego where we got to go to Catalina, see the San Diego temple, walk by the beach hang out with some of his friends and go out to eat, it was such a wonderful memory I’ll never forget and so nice to have before I left home.

Family vacations, example, insightful, wise, gardening, studying, continually learning and sharing, generous and wonderful, my father.