Daddy-O's Heaven

Dad LOVES to tell stories and he LOVES his family history. When Pops and I first got married, we moved into the "Love Shack" and began renovations on the front part of the house. I think it took about a year and a half before it was liveable and we moved in. Just about every Saturday Dad would come down and we would knock down, drag out, sweep up, plaster, sand... or just go get a Coke. The only other constant besides the Coke, was Dad's stories. Every room must have about a gizzillion stories to tell. To name a few, he told me about when somebody's baby was layed out in the front room after it died. In the kitchen, he would tell me how his Dad used to like to get his spoon piping hot while mixing his coffee and then burn Dad on the hand. He even had a story for the hallway; it was the place where his family would hide when the home teachers came (it is the only room with no windows). And then the yard stories about how his parents used to have mint planted by the well or how his cousins used to sit on the roof and shoot roaming dogs in the neighborhood. Did he ever tell you the one about how after his grandparents built the house it burned down while they were at church? It was a long ordeal remodeling that house, I don't think I knew what we were in for when Dad first lifted the crow bar and reluctantly said, "Well, here we go!" He knew the misery of lath and plaster, but it was my first experience (I was blowing black stuff out of my nose for a year). In the end, I would not trade it for anything. I don't know how Dad would have made me audience to all of these stories otherwise.

A couple of years back Glama, Bampa, Superkid and I went up to Prince Edward Island for a Dewar family reunion. I am pretty sure this is Dad's idea of heaven. He was like a kid in a candy store. He was going through the checklist of stories his mother (who had never been to PEI) had told him about his grandparents and the island. He loved meeting cousins and exchanging stories.

I am pretty sure that Dad is about the only guy ever to live that is looking forward to his funeral. How many times have we heard him say, "Oh, I can't wait to hear you tell that story at my funeral!" Well, there is plenty of good material on Dad, but we are not waiting until his funeral to laugh about/with him. "Now will you pass the damn gravy already!"