From the Editor's Computer
It will soon be Father’s Day, and I would like to share with you some of my childhood (and adult) memories of my Dad.
I can remember being a preschooler and playing with my dad. Okay...I played while he laid down on the couch. This put him at the perfect height for me to use his head as my playing area. My dad always had a brush cut, making the crown of his head (especially right after a haircut!) the perfect lush ‘field’ to ‘graze’ my toy cows or ‘gallop’ my toy horses across. Looking back now, I can only say that he was infinitely patient with me and could obviously tolerate a lot of pain! Take a moment to imagine a hard plastic horse, in the hands of a preschooler, ‘galloping’ across the crown of your head.
Dad would also spend lots of time driving dinky cars around a track approximately 2 feet by 1 foot with me. Around and around...and around and around...For variety, we would sometimes prop the track up slightly, thus creating an incline to race our cars down. If done correctly, the cars would continue across the floor as we didn’t have carpet!
Often when Dad was working outside in the yard or garden, I would ‘help’ him with my own set of miniature garden tools, imitating his actions, or I’d be stirring up a large batch of mud pies in his wheel barrow.
When I got older, my Dad taught me to ride a bike - another occasion when his infinite patience was evident! It was Dad who took me out and about the countryside to practice my driving. He even accompanied me to the dealership when I bought my car.
Dad was also able to share with me some of the major accomplishments in my adult life. He attended my Duke of Edinburgh Gold Award ceremony where I got to shake hands with Prince Philip. Though we didn’t actually see it, friends told us that Dad was shown in the background while I was receiving my award from the Prince - on the news clip shown on Canada AM! Despite major health problems, Dad was attended my convocation ceremony and watched me receive my B.A. in Athabasca last year.
Dad...I would like to say THANK YOU for your support and encouragement throughout the years. I LOVE YOU!
Any man can be a father, but it takes a special man to be a DAD!
Happy Father’s Day to All the Fathers!
Beth
Read the complete issue of The Chautauqua here: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1LjXQojQL4ZACnnnHnOJC-AB-VaLZ7wL-/view?usp=sharing
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