For My Dad

My father is strange.  Seriously strange.  If you know him, you completely agree.  Some of my earliest memories of him are him running around singing "I am the Frito Bandito..."  So yeah, he's an odd duck.  I am really lucky to have him though, there aren't too many girls out there that can look back on their past with fond memories of their dad driving them home from Brownies meetings sharing potato sticks, beer and scratch tickets.  (It was Islesboro...it's like a different universe)  And while I didn't see him as much after my sister and I moved off the island, Dad always remained the same funny, quirky, offbeat Dad we'd always known.

All these years later, and really, not much has changed.  I know Dad loved having my sister and I, and wouldn't have traded us for sons, but the prospect of having grandsons, that just put him over the edge.  He had my stepsons for practice, and thoroughly enjoyed taking them out four wheeling, sledding, lobstering, playing with fire crackers, and other "boyish" activities.  When I called to tell him I was having a boy, well, I could have told him he just won the lottery, and I don't think he could have been any happier.  "By God, that's great!  That's great!  By God, that's great!"  (I think he repeated that about 45 times)  When I hung up with him to call my stepmother and tell her the good news, he arrived at her house within 5 minutes because he simply could not contain his happiness.  She called me later, after he settled down and returned to work, to tell me he was positively giddy, and that she had barely convinced him not to rush out on the next boat to make a trip to toys-r-us for baseball bats, basketballs and four-wheelers.  Like I said, my dad is a nut.  And fortunately for me, and my sister, and my son, he's a great Dad (or Papa) and we love him very much.

Happy Father's Day!