Games

So the other day i was on the phone with Jane and we got to talking about old games we all used to play. I can remember that Lins LOVED the game Guess Who and we played it all the time over at dads; especially during the summer months. The other game we played a lot was a game called Sticky Situations. That was one of those games designed to get parents and children talking about what to do when - not my favorite game; but we had fun with it. Then there is the old card game cribbage. I haven't played crib in a while - but now it is my goal to teach Ed so we can play together. Lins and I are very competitive in our games of cribbage and used to be able to beat anyone we played including dad. I am ready to get that skill back up :)

Change

So since i started writing i have noticed that i don't feel the need to write everyday. Instead i am going to write when the urge strikes me. My biggest fear was forgetting the memories i had of dad, but now that i am paying attention to that fear i notice that strangest things in every day life remind me of a memory. Like the other day i was feeding the birds i saw the biggest blue jay i have ever seen in my life. This is something dad would have loved to hear about. He loved to talk about the birds, turkeys, deer and all the other wildlife he saw and took pictures of. I miss him every day but i feel closer to him as i am able to remember these small random things about him every day.

Old memories

So today i was talking with some of my girlfriends and we are thinking about going to the New Kids on the Block concert (AGAIN!) and it reminded me of when dad was first living in Whitewater. I used to have the Hangin Tough video and Lindsday and I used to watch it over and over again in our living room! Poor dad for putting up with that!

Speaking of houses, i remember this one house he didn't live in very long in Jefferson i think. It was an upstairs apartment per se. But i remember it had a cool "toy room" aka porch of some kind and a deep tub with a long neck spout into it. I don't remember much else about that house but i do remember that i liked it there. Maybe one day i will go looking for it!

Pudgy Pies

So on Ed's first trip to our hunting land he was really in for a big surprise. My dad and Jane have a camper that you have to drive through a corn field, over the bike trail and up some crazy hill to get to. Pretty typical for Wisconsin, but i am sure Ed had never experienced such a thing! That was a fun day! We showed Ed around the land and made pudgy pies over the fire with a new contraption of my dads. Basically it holds together two pieces of bread and the fillings so you can heat it over a fire. They were pretty darn good if i do say so myself! That was definitely one of my favorite recent memories of hangin with my dad!

My other random memory/thought for the day was how my dad used to always ask me questions about school or my career plans. He always used to be a perfectionist i thought when it came to grades or accomplishing goals. He wanted to know why a B instead of an A, why did i not negotiate for more money during a job etc... But that plays in the back of my head now as i am trying to deal with feeling like i am ready for a change in my life. I am thinking it will probably be career related since HR is not exactly the field i had set out for, but i am also thinking maybe i should go back and get my PHD. I blame this squarely on him for helping to instill that i don't have to "settle" on anything and I should always strive to get/do what i want. I am praying he finds a way to give me his opinion on the choices at hand (even though i am pretty sure i already know).

Behind

So with my trip to Wisconsin and all of Ed's craziness at work i am behind - but never fear we are back on track and i will do 2 postings a day for a while to get caught back up again.

My reason for going home this spring, was to help see some of dad's stuff picked through, divided up and sold during our "man's rummage sale". Somehow i thought this would be a healing activity. It is all still too fresh in my mind to figure that out, but what i can tell you now is that my dad had a TON of stuff. To many of us it was just that - stuff, but to dad it all had a purpose or a time when he might need it. And dad would not want it all just sitting around and he would be glad that people will be making good use out of the things he had collected over the years.

While we were going through those things, i found my old softball glove and instantly started to cry. Dad used to play softball and i can remember watching him as a kid. But when i got a glove of my very own, he and i would play catch and practice fielding to prepare me to play as well. Those were fun days!

TV Dinners

It is amazing the things around you that can bring back a memory. Today i was at the grocery store and passed the freezer isle and it had the kids meals in the front. All of the sudden i was overcome with the memory of being 8 again. There were nights i can remember my parents would let Lindsay and I eat tv dinners for supper. My favorite were the ones that had chicken nuggets and the warm apples in them. I loved those apples! Dad even used to let me eat the ones from his meal every once and a while. I think just for shits and grins i am going to buy one of those and have it for dinner!

Camping

So tonight I was reminded about the smell of campfire and that brought back all sorts of camping memories i had from when i was a child. We used to go to this little campground somewhere past the Dells with dad, Jane and a bunch of their friends. While i cant remember all of them, i can remember their being other kids. Lindsay and I used to stay in a tent until dad upgraded to a small camper. I am not really the camping type, but i liked making smores over the campfire and swimming in the pool. I even remember someone rigging an antenna so we could get a tv station to watch (sort of ). Those days were fun but i still don't like camping!