Happy Birthday Dad.
Today is the day my dad was born. A quiet, gentle man. Hard working, smart, willing to listen, on one or two occasions given to saying biting remarks which I later learned came out of his own hurt or his own feelings of being betrayed.

When I remember him I have images of him in my mind's eye, of him at work at his drill press, seeing him through an open door when he was helping the landlord make anchors for boats, seeing the molds being filled with hot molten metal, seeing him at the saw chopping up wood for the wood pile.

When I remember him I see him walking up that long steep driveway from the foundry, in the evenings, tired, sweaty, the look of exhaustion on his face. He'd sit outside with the landlord and the landlord's wife, pouring down bottles of grape crush, or orange crush, and trying to cool off, his tee-shirt sweat soaked, his bib overalls dirty from the work, yet he was able to smile at me.

I remember him watching westerns on tv, especially Gunsmoke and "Have Gun Will Travel". It seems to me that was about his only enjoyment in life, other than fishing in the summertime when we'd go up north to visit his mom, who lived in a little shack, or ice fishing in the winter.

He had 3 brothers, one of whom he spent time with just walking through the potato patch in our side yard. It makes me smile inside when I rmember how serious they looked, walking through that patch....I wonder now what all they discussed as they looked at those potatoes.

Dad would go hunting for deer with his brothers most every winter. Sometimes one of dad's sisters would go also. I don't know if the one sister, I've seen on photographs, actually hunted or just stayed behind and cooked for her brothers and there's only one or two people that might know and I don't have contact with them.
I remember hunting season as it happened at Thanksgiving and it seems like dad was gone every Thanksgiving.

All I have to go on for how dad felt about people is to use my "adult eyes" to "see" the things that took place years ago and try to interpet what he felt. I can "see" how he got on with his one brother, how they walked and talked together. Another brother would come to visit and dad's posture would change. It would seem to me to be defensive and "wanting to get away" from this brother. Another brother he had, well for me the jury is still out on that.

He also had sisters, 3 of them, one is still alive to the best of my knowledge.
Dad would talk about his relatives sometimes. One of them was an aunt and I couldn't ever remember having met her.

Anyway, it's dad's birthday and he's missed, oh so much. Some of the other memories I have that are wonderful I think I want to keep to myself and just hug close to me today, cause I can't hug him...








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