My Old Daddy

My dad came to town today. I knew he was coming in and needed to be picked up at the Greyhound station this morning, around 8am. He called at 7:20, luckily Iyende was up. For once I was asleep but managed to wake up enough to talk to him. He said he knew I was sleeping and to come get him around 10. Ten o'clock rolls around and me and the kids shot downtown to pick him up. It's always a pleasure to see my dad, and my kids were very excited to see him. He was sitting at a table in the food court area, and his whole face just lit up when he saw us, and the kids mobbed him with hugs.

We went back to the house and chilled for a while, he and Brian got in some big conversation about what's going on in the Middle East. I stayed out of it, talking to my dad is sometimes being lectured at. He is very intellectual, very deep, but sometimes I just don't want to be schooled, ya know? Later on I drove him out to this resort place, my parents rented out a cabin for the holiday. My mom forgot to send in the balance and it had to be paid today, the main reason why he came up without my mom. She was participating in some church thing and is not driving up until tomorrow.

The directions my mom sent were waaaaay off, my dad and I laughed the entire way over that. Being used to my mom's directions we called and got the correct directions, so it was cool and we got there ok, a little early in fact. They were still getting the cabin ready, so we walked around a bit and sat and chilled. Sometimes talking to my dad is like talking to a friend, or a mentor. He gave me some very good suggestions for whipping my business into shape and we talked about the kids, a little politics, how me and Brian were doing. When Brian and I were having serious problems I was angry with my dad for staying impartial, but as things between us have improved I am very glad he did. The cabin place is near where he grew up and he talked a little about his childhood, which is always precious to me to hear about because when I was a child he didn't tell us much about his own childhood.

I love my dad so much, he is a good man and father and grandfather. I treasure spending time with him, and when he told me that being able to be friends with your grown children is a blessing, well, that is something I will remember forever. Here's a picture of my dad with Brian, Scott, and Todd: