Dad

Dad…

DIY? There wasn’t any other way to get it done. He didn’t hire tradesmen. He was the ultimate DIYer. Plumbing, carpentry, automotive, body and fender, tree trimming, roofing, (including splitting his own Tamarac shakes) building a cabin, putting on an addition. There was one trade he wasn’t real comfortable with and that was electrical but he would still do it. He wired his shop and the addition. He wired his cabin with 12VDC. Of all the things he taught me I chose his weakness as a trade and became an electrician. But that wasn’t a conscious rebellious choice, just an opportunity.

Go to the store? No way, stores were for beer and bread. Use what you have. Dad had a lot of pieces and parts. People gave him stuff. He would take it apart and save the pieces. While working at wrecking yards, after disassembling something he would dump the hardware in a 5 gallon bucket. If dad didn’t have the hardware you needed then either it didn’t exist or you either didn’t really need it or you weren’t being creative enough.

I was recently reminded of how He became a surrogate father to Many of my and my brothers friends and who didn’t have a dad. One of my brothers friends reminisced about a trip he and my dad took to tear down a building. (Dad eventually used that lumber to build an addition onto our house).

He’s been gone for 12 years now. He was diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease when he was 53, he lived with that debilitating disorder until he died at 72. The last couple of years he had to be in a home to keep himself safe from himself. He was doer. He hated being incapacitated.

I don’t remember a single game I played with my dad, but I remember hundreds of projects and jobs we did together. He didn’t teach me how to to throw a baseball, still don’t know how. he did teach me how to pound a nail, cut a board on a table saw, how to turn a wrench, righty tighty lefty loose e, and a lot of other things. To stay busy, to work hard, how to not treat your wife. How to be tenacious and creative with problem solving.

I loved my dad but I didn’t know why or how best to show it until after he died.

Happy Father’s Day dad, sorry you’re not here to celebrate with a cruise in Rusty. I miss you and I’m sorry I wasted so much time while you were here. Thanks for the memories and the skills. I love you.

Author: Peterloeffelbein

I am a man. I am an older man. I am a husband and a dad and a grandpa. I am a disciple of Jesus. Because I am a disciple of Jesus much of what I write is about him, and I usually end what I write with a question, do you the reader know that Jesus loves you? He does. He loves us all but he loves you specifically. He loves me specifically. What will you do with that information today? View all posts by Peterloeffelbein