Memories of the Father Unit

[tinhuvielartanis]

• His high-pitched howl when my three-year old hand clutched on to his partial erection through his shorts and the subsequent laughter when I asked, "what's this, Daddy?"


• Daddy coming in the middle of the night to see me, his arms overloaded with brand new board games.


• Daddy and me leaving the Mother Unit's new residence, Daddy crying and driving erratically while "Seasons in the Sun" blared on the radio.


• In a big plastic pool with Daddy, the two of us having farting contests and laughing at the bubbles in the water. I am most definitely my father's daughter when it comes to flatulence.


• His practicing with his folk-country band, many songs he wrote himself, like "Carolina Mountains."


• Daddy coming for visits, guitar in hand, and the two of us singing together.


• Daddy teaching me how to play "Third Man Theme" on his guitar.


• The original version of "Buggy Buggy," when it was still a rap song.


• How he was left by his mother-in-law at the hospital, dazed and confused from the meds the doctor had given him. Aunt Tudi and I went and got him, and brought him home.


• Him and the Stepmother Unit taking me to a friend's house where I saw my first VHS movies: Close Encounters of the Third Kind and Cat Ballou.


• Having to call him to tell him that Granny (his mother) had died. He was in Japan and, as usual, by himself. He grieved in solitude.


• Our arguments about the British Isles. He didn't like living there (he lived in Haverford West, Wales) and tried to convince me how bad it was. I wouldn't hear it. When I finally got to go, I returned to tell him that I still thought the UK was fantastic.


• I remember Daddy, Aunt Tudi, Granny, and the Mother Unit making up songs and singing them together, or singing the "Hawaiian War Chant" and getting me, a toddler, to hula like mad.


• Daddy and me fighting over his buying me stuff I didn't ask for, didn't need, and didn't want.


• Daddy taking me to the USS Yorktown, to the beach (for my first time), and to my first seafood restaurant (The Trawler). I was 14.


• Him chasing BB through the house with his hat, and the bird just fussing up a storm at him.


• Him calling Aunt Tudi "Ott" and her calling him "Ott." That's how they always addressed and signed their letters.


• The night Daddy and I saw a "walking tree" outside our house. It put it's gnarled hand on the window and we both screamed with fright. I contend that this was an alien encounter now. I discussed the incident with him years later and he remembered it clearly.


• Him coming in to rescue me from the Beezers that swarmed my crib at night.


• Him yelling at me for throwing a popcorn box out the car window on the way home from seeing Dumbo at the drive-in. I was 4 and I never littered again.


• Daddy yelling in general. To this day, I can't stand really loud anything because it triggers panic in me. I can trace that back to Daddy yelling in anger so much when I was a kid.


• Listening to his radio show in the early 70s.


• Watching Law & Order with him and trying to determine who did it. It's his fault I'm such a Law & Order junkie now.


• Re-enacting scenes from a number of Mel Brooks films. Daddy was the one who got me started on Mel Brooks. We could quote entire scenes from his movies. Daddy shared a birthday with Mel Brooks and I always felt there was a special reason for that.


• Him sitting with me trying to explain why he and the Mother Unit had broken up, and not doing a very good job of it. His subjective account wasn't the healthiest thing in the world for me.


• Him making me his famous "Ham what am, and cheese to please" sandwiches, complete with a pickle on top.


• Daddy showing me how to draw and giving me all manner of art supplies over the years.

I'm sure there's so much more lodged in my head, but I can't go on with this for now. I need to focus on something else for a while. I need to stop hurting. Comments are disabled, as they aren't necessary.

Thanks to everyone for your support. You all mean more to me than you can possibly imagine.