Timeless Bonds: How Do I Admire Thee? Let Me Count the Ways.

This is written in response to the StoryWorth question: What do you admire most about your father?

When it comes to parents, I won the lottery. Both of my parents are wonderful and I would not trade them for any other parents in the world!

My father has many admirable traits. One of them is that he is extremely hard-working. I suppose that being born and raised in Eastern Kentucky probably helped to mold this trait. He had to work from boyhood helping his parents to raise a garden to feed the large family. This garden was not a little hobby for the family; the survival of the family depended upon its bounty. He also helped with the animals; milking cows, feeding the mule, slaughtering the hogs.

He worked from boyhood to help raise and get the family’s tobacco crops to market. This was not easy work, but it gave his family a bit of spending money to purchase those items that it could not raise; sugar, flour, coffee… It also gave them a bit of money for Christmas.

When they were old enough, he and his brother Wallace dug the family’s coal supply for the winter from coal banks on their property. This was fairly dangerous and difficult work but the boys did it in order to keep their family warm come winter.

He hunted to provide the occasional squirrel for the family. Dad tells me that Grandpa gave him and Wallace an old rifle to go on less serious hunting expeditions. The rifle was old and they only had one shell for it. Dad says that he and Wallace went “hunting” for years, never firing that shell as they knew it was the only one they had. He told me that they finally got tired of never firing a shot and shot it just for the heck of it!

So Dad was pretty much brought up on hard work and has always been willing to do it and always does it right. After he and Mom married, he worked three jobs at times. In spite of having little, if any free time, and little, if any spare cash, he managed to drive to Kentucky from Ohio to pick up Mom’s brothers from the children’s home for holidays and breaks. He also worked to turn a mere shell of a house where snow blew into the house around the window frames into a cozy home with a bedroom and bathroom addition.

I have heard Uncle Ronnie and Uncle Olen say more than once how Dad was almost like a father figure for them. I have heard them marvel at how he could manage to do what he did considering how little time and money he had. Uncle Olen just recently said that he thought that all of the siblings except for Aunt Fanny had stayed with Mom and Dad for periods of time. I can remember Grandpa Boyd staying with us for a while too. So Dad was willing to welcome in family when they were in need. I think that that is also an admirable trait.

Over the years, I have seen Dad pitch in to do whatever work needs to be done. He has fried up some delicious pork chops and gravy. He makes the best cornbread and soup beans. I have heard him say more than once that he taught Mom how to cook. She doesn’t really dispute that either and I can tell you that he did a fine job teaching her because she can cook up some serious deliciousness herself.

I admire Dad’s intelligence. He seems to be able to learn to do anything he sets his mind to. As a young man, he helped his brother Dale wire houses for electricity in the rural area around where they grew up. He would wire his parents’ home in the ‘50s so that they could get electricity. Later, he would go to trade school and get a certificate. He worked in maintenance for his job at Eaton and I daresay that he was likely the best man to figure out how to fix any problem that any machine there had. I also dare to say that if he could not fix it, it was just not fixable.

Dad making a radio.

This talent has helped him on the farm too. He has fixed many a piece of malfunctioning, or nonfunctioning farm machinery until it was once again working. He can wire, grind, solder, weld… whatever is needed in order to fix what needs fixing. He did all of this and farmed while working a full-time job, often while working overtime at Eaton. Somedays he would be hauling hay during the day and then go into work at Eaton during the evening.

Dad will be 84 this year and still, if you need his help, all you need do is ask for it.

Another thing that I admire about Dad is what a wonderful grandfather he is. He has four grandchildren and a great-grandchild and he loves them all so beautifully. He has read to them over the years and has also told them tales of his own making. At times he has been a horsey and other times a comfortable place to nap. He is Papaw. He is DeeDee, and now he is Peepaw. Most of all, he is well-loved and he has loved well in return.

And now he has a great-grandson too!

So here are just a few of many admirable traits exemplified by Dad. Just from the little that I have written, I have begun to wonder if perhaps Dad has an alter ego. I wonder if that alter ego may be going out performing superhero deeds in society on the sly before returning home to be our, quiet, unassuming humble patriarch.