Grandma's House

Happy Father's Day to all you fathers out there. My own father passed away 15 years ago next month (my goodness, has it been that long already?), and I still miss him, but I learned so much from him. He was a lot like Gary Cooper: quiet, yet strong when necessary. I only remember seeing him cry one time. Mom was running a neighborhood store and was robbed, and the thief beat her with a five-pound window weight. She nearly died from that beating, and never regained her sense of smell. He held it together, since he had two small daughters at home to take care of. But I overheard him talking to his mother on the phone, and when he started describing trying to get the blood out of her clothes he just lost it. Of course, when he saw me, he quickly dried his eyes and acted like nothing was wrong. Most of the time, when he felt like crying, he would start swallowing hard. My little sister and I used to laugh about that. We had a great relationship with our dad: playing baseball in the back yard, fishing trips, being carried up the stairs and tucked in at night, and last but certainly not least, his awesome portrayal of Santa Claus each Christmas. I wish all kids had a dad as good as ours was.