Tell Me About your Dad

My dad is an admirable man that I'm lucky to still have. I lost my mom to cancer when I was 16 and he continued to raise me and my sisters without mentally checking out. When I was diagnosed with cancer at 23 and 24, respectively, he was willing to risk his job to stay with me in Houston while I got my treatments. His company ended up letting him work remotely so that he wouldn't miss out on pay and health coverage. We are very close. He is a very selfless man and I mold alot of the way that I am a husband and dad on how he raised me and was with my mom.

My dad played rock and roll in the late 50’s and early 60’s. He could stand on his amp and play bass behind his head, and somehow got drunk and fell out of a window at a show at the Elks Lodge.

He also warned me never to have sex with ladies on the hood of a car when it’s snowing outside, or else you might catch a cold.

My dad rules.

All I know is he was in Vietnam then came home and basically became an hippy and was killed in car Accident along with my hippy mother two weeks after my first birthday.

He was awesome. I couldn’t have asked for more. He definitely had fatherhood figured out. He taught me to be tough and work hard without ever losing his patience. He somehow spoiled me with time and guidance without hovering over me like a helicopter parent. He knew when to be harsh and when to comfort. It was devastating when he died when I was 15, but I made it through it relatively ok over time. I’m sure I would’ve done worse without all of the influence he already had in my life at that point.

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My dad played rock and roll in the late 50’s and early 60’s. He could stand on his amp and play bass behind his head, and somehow got drunk and fell out of a window at a show at the Elks Lodge.

He also warned me never to have sex with ladies on the hood of a car when it’s snowing outside, or else you might catch a cold.

My dad rules.

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MyRockstarComplex

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Checks out

My old man is still alive and retired. My folks sold their place in Baton Rouge right after he retired and built a small house on the family land about a quarter mile away from me. He worked hard and always does his best for the family. He has a good heart, and helps others when he can. He always provided what we needed, and often what we wanted. I spend as much time as I can with him, and I am always trying to learn some of the handyman stuff that he knows. Growing up we tried a lot of different hobbies together, like building models, rc cars, rc airplanes, astronomy, and ham radio to name a few. Went to many a LSU baseball game at the old Alex Box. I was also close with my grandparents, and miss them terribly. I dread the day I have to say goodbye to my father and mother.

He posts here. Tells you all you need to know.

85 years old and still goes to work everyday and climbs ladders and does yardwork on the weekend. He's like a shark - he thinks if he stops swimming he will die.

my dad was a good man, with a terrible inferiority complex. He was very good minister, and received lots of positive feedback from his ministry. He chased those feel-goods to the detriment of his family for many years. Others saw him as a saint, but we saw him as the guy who left thanksgiving with all the kids and grandkids around the table to go to the hospital to be with the ex-husband (motorcycle wreck) of a woman whose mother used to go to the church. (true story).

a few years before his come-to-Jesus meeting, he admitted his foibles and apologized to my brother and me. i loved him and he me, but there was a distance. We disappointed one another.

A couple gems from my dad's blog during his last years with ALS

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PALS & Hip Hop, Who Knew?
One of the most dangerous parts of ALS for my friends and family is that I have way too much free time on my hands which leads to my mind wandering, and they all know that can be dangerous. So today's great revelation is that PALS(patients with ALS) and Hip Hoppers have a lot in common.

I know, right, you never knew this before I brought it up, but now it's perfectly clear. It isn't? Well, fo shizzle, let me bring some illumination for my homies:

We, both PALS and Hip Hoppers, wear a lot of really baggy loose fitting clothes
We both have trouble getting our pants up high enough to cover our butts or bootays
We both have really cool rides featuring 24's(really big wheels) and/or hydraulics
We both have a lot of bling; PALS with ALS wrist bands, emergency response pendants, pimp canes and hip hoppers with, well, bling
Take a picture of us with our hands up and you never know what signs the fingers may flash at you
We both bring an entourage, our crew, with us every where we go
We're both often involved with experimental drug trials, some are even FDA approved ;0)
Let's face it, you don't understand half of what we say
We both are overly fond of bidets (really, watch a video, you'll see)
And finally, maintaining our lifestyles requires large financial commitments and around the clock attention
So there, my peeps, me and my shorty was chucklin on this earlier so I brought it your way. I start to think and then I sink, into the paper like I was ink. When I'm writing, I'm trapped in between the lines, I escape when I finish the rhyme”-Rakim, I Know You Got Soul Enjoy!

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Where's My Wallet?
In my 15+ years working in the fast food business, I can ensure you I've seen some crazy things at the drive up window. I can only imagine what the girl at Sonic was thinking this morning when a car with three people laughing hysterically pulled up to her window at 7:30 in the morning.
You see, what had happened was...I rode in to work with G and R on my way to breakfast with B. They stopped at Sonic for breakfast, and for some reason wouldn't get me the new Red Velvet Cake Blast for a starter, something about too much sugar?? Anyway as we waited in line, R pulled out some crisp clean ones to pay the bill (WG? friends can feel my pain) and G saw my reaction. That led to R saying," He can use his own money." To which I replied, " I haven't even seen my wallet in like two years (slight exaggeration there for melodramatic effect)." R "well, what do YOU need a wallet for, you can't even pull up your own pants! and I'm pretty sure that's a qualification for having a wallet." BAHAHAHA, that started the laughter...then "Let's see, what do you keep in a wallet? Business cards, you don't have a job so no wallet. Driver's license, you don't drive so no wallet. Money, well no job, no money, no wallet. Condoms, oh hell, I don't even want to think about that." It was at this point that the three crazy people reached the window, laughing uncontrollably with red faces and tears running down the cheeks. The cashier just smiled politely; I'd like to thing we made her day, at least we didn't just grunt "coffee" at her.
For the record, I can pull up my own pants...sometimes, most of the way. ALS takes away some of my most basic functions and it's not fun to have to ask for help with things like getting up from the couch, buttoning a shirt or even getting my pants on correctly. I miss the ability to chop seasonings for dinner, to pick up my granddaughter and hold her while she feeds the horses, or even to take the trash can out front, but I still have my ability to maintain that "quirky" sense of humor and to laugh at myself. If it's true that "Laughter really is the best medicine", I think I may have overdosed this morning. Thanks Ry and G for not treating me any differently than before this disease entered our lives, ALS still sucks but I choose to laugh in the face of the monster.

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