Happy Birthday, Daddy...Sunday, May 24, 2015

I baked a cake tonight...I wanted to CELEBRATE this day!  Daddy would have been 92!  My goodness...where does time go?  It has been 12 years since I celebrated his birthday with him...I got to have my Daddy for 40 years...far longer than so many...I am blessed...

Age 16....He had hair!!  =)

We were constant companions...He was forever trying to bring to fruition something I had concocted in my mind when half way through, I would ask WHO thought this was a good idea?!

These are some pictures that I found and thought I would share...I LOVED that he always had a hat!  I LOVE how they dressed with PRIDE to go places in those days....

Daddy traveled when he was young...I think he had it out of his system by the time he had a family, BUT what I really think, is that his priorities changed...He was a WORKER...He wanted to make certain his family had what they needed.

Daddy was 28 when he and mother (19) married in 1951 and Bob was born 1 day shy of 9 months after they married...ROFL!  They had dug a hole in a piece of land with the plans of building a basement home and adding to it when they got more money, but the health of Uncle Bud and Aunt Jenny was declining, so they moved in with them to help care for them...our house was FULL.  When I came along in 1962, I had a brother 2 years older, one 10.5 years older and 3 people past 80!  Mother said we didn't sit down to eat that SOMEBODY didn't spill something, and it was NOT always the children doing the spilling!

Mother fretted that Daddy didn't play games with us, but he was ALWAYS present...Being with Daddy meant going with him on the farm.  NEVER was he too busy to let us tag along, except on the VERY RARE occasion.  We got to see Daddy respecting and caring for the Land that God gave us to be caretakers of...a lesson TOO many have ignored...We got to see a Daddy who was a HARD worker and who provided for his family.  I SAY we were dirt poor, but NEVER did we want for ANYTHING...We were given EVERY opportunity to participate in events...we had MORE than we needed and MORE than we could want.

Daddy was generous of spirit and of possessions.  He helped his neighbors and they helped him.  He gave of his time to help on issues he found important.  He was active in our community and in our church.  He was chairman of the ASCS Office (dealing with farm quotas)...it was a position that he was voted to hold by other farmers, so he was respected!

Daddy was so good with Math.  He could calculate things that would amaze me.  He loved to measure crops...He loved to play PITCH (cards) with his guy friends, but didn't get to do it much.  He and Mother has several couples they played Rook with and Mother ALWAYS loved to entertain.  Daddy just let her and didn't say much.  Actually, as long as she wasn't making him tag along, he encouraged her to be involved in activities of her choice.

Mother said Daddy changed as many dirty diapers as she did.  He was a rarity.  He worked in the house just as much as Mother did, maybe more of some occasions!

A SHARP Dresser!

In Colorado

WHY do all men look like GANGSTA'S at this period of time...This is on the square in my home town.

Momma and Daddy at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier...Bob must have taken the picture

August 26, 1954...must have been somewhere around Chattanooga...

August 28, 1954 in Chattanooga...Daddy holding Bob...He was always holding one of us!!  What a good Daddy!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

In Florida...April 1961

Uncle Bud and Aunt Jenny, who raised Daddy...Brian is sitting on the end with the ukelele and in the back is Bob, Momma, Daddy Holding ME (squirming to get down) and on the end is Aunt Ellen who was the teacher at the one room school.  She was the sister of Uncle Bud. August 1964

Daddy hold me (again) in December 1964...The ASCS Office annual Christmas dinner...It was always family and it was always nice.  We made lifelong friends among the workers and board members.

Visitng the Georgia Fletchers...Front row Eddie, Brian, Me, Mother, Ronald (what ARE you doing?) Jean, Daddy and Aunt Polly...I LOVED my cousins and always enjoyed getting to see them!

Wake up, Momma...LOL...1-21-1965 at Dr. Stone's house for the annual Birthday gathering...Dr. Stone delivered all 3 of us kids...Yep, Daddy had his CIGAR...LOL....

Momma and Daddy at Brian's Wedding (the middle child)

Daddy seeing and holding his FIRST Grandbaby for the First time.  We were celebrating the opening of my brother and sister-in-laws Flower shop.  1990

Same Grandchild, Kaylen, growing up with her little brother, Kendall...Sadly, they were never allowed to ride on the tractor and get to experience the hum of the tractor lulling a child to sleep.  Daddy had to pack me back home EVERY time I rode on the tractor with him...He was a SAFE driver and KNEW the land like the back of his hand.

This was in January 1999...we got what I call the 4 Bonus years...He spent 22 days in the hospital and wasn't expected to live through the first night...He was an AMAZING, STRONG Man!  Me, Brian, Daddy, Bob and Momma...

I don't understand how I got so lucky...I don't take it for granted...I have NO PROBLEM with anyone who says THEY have the best daddy...it is ok because I KNOW I had the BEST!!  Thank YOU, Daddy...I did EVERYTHING humanly possible to make sure YOU knew how much I loved you!  I was HONORED to be your baby girl...I was HUMBLED to be able to spend so much time with you...THANK YOU is not adequate, but it is all I got...I MISS YOU every single day but I wouldn't have your aching body back on earth for anything...I WAS and AM so PROUD to KNOW WHO I AM...Thanks for giving me a good name...Kisses to Heaven...~charlotte