Willie Nelson ~Angel Flying Too Close to the Ground~ 1982

My Dad

It's Father's Day today, and I have been trying to write this post all week. I have never had as hard a time writing as I did this time. As you already know I'm writing this about my dad. It's going to be hard to say everything I loved about him, because that would take a book. I'll just try to hit the highlights of life with my dad.First of all my dad wasn't a perfect man, but to a little girl that adored him, he was a Super Hero that could anything. To a young woman that loved him dearly, he could do no wrong.

My dad was a functioning alcoholic . He never missed a days work at his automobile trim shop. He was never abusive or obnoxious like most men that drink are. He was always quiet and would just go to bed and sleep it off.

My dad loved animals and we had quite a menagerie. We had dogs, a cat, several monkeys, a raccoon, and an alligator. All the critters had there own space, Dad had a pond dug for the alligator we had a place for the monkeys and raccoon. But they would manage to get out and roam the neighborhood at times and sometimes cause a disturbance. Most all of the neighbors knew who they belonged too; if they didn't know, the police did.

Dad would sometimes take one of his critters to work with him. On this particular day he took the raccoon. Now we all know that raccoons are curious animals and quite mischievous. Ours was no exception. He must have gotten bored because he decided he would explore the neighborhood and see what he could get into. Well he got in a lady's house, found some bread and preceded to wash it in her dishwater. He then went into her bathroom and squirted toothpaste all over the place. She came in and screamed and called the police. They called Dad and asked him if he was missing a raccoon. H went down and picked him up apologized to the lady and gave her I'm sure a substantial sum of money for damages.

One day Mom and I came home from dancing class and Mom went directly into the bathroom. We heard a bloodcurdling scream and ran to see what had happened. There in the bathtub was an alligator. Dad said "Oh I meant to tell you about that."

As I mentioned before we had several monkeys. We had one white-faced monkey that wasn't child friendly. My brother and I were told to stay away from him. Mom got up one morning and Eddie was missing. She was frantic and looking everywhere and calling to him. Then it came to her, the monkey. She went to where they were kept and there she found Eddie. He and the monkey had their arms around each other sharing an apple. I guess they turned out to be pretty good friends after all.

Everyone thinks you can't train an alligator, but my dad did. He would go out on the back steps and whistle. That gator would come running and eat raw meat out of Dad's hand. In the winter it was too cold for the alligator to stay in the pond, so Dad put him in a ditch beside our house and dug a hole for him to get under ground. Dad would go out and whistle and he would come out and eat. He would occasionally get out a get him a chicken for supper. Who would think of chickens in the city? This time he got caught and made the news with a policeman holding him up with a piece of wire. Dad paid the "chicken man" and he seemed happy with what he got.

When I was seven Dad sold the business just out of the blue and we moved to Miami. I thought I was in paradise. He took us to the beach every weekend and usually we stayed in a hotel to get an early start. Dad would take me way out on his back and we would watch the Sea Lions play. Then we would ride the waves back to shore. He took great care of his body on the outside by doing push ups usually with me on his back. He exercised regularly sometime chinning himself on our swing set. It was uncanny what he was doing to his body on the inside by drinking and smoking

My brother and I thought everything was wonderful until Mom filed for divorce. He started drinking more and staying out all night sometimes. She just couldn't take anymore. He stayed in Miami for a while thing Mom would reconsider. She gave him an ultimatum and he went back to Birmingham and lived with Nannie and Pop. He kept drinking for several years and finally Pop got him in rehab. He stayed there for quite a while until he knew he would never touch another drop, and he didn't.

To make a long story short, the years went by, I married and had a beautiful baby girl. Mom and Dad remarried after Sherri was born and we all moved back to Birmingham. I later got a divorce when Sherri was five and went back to work for Ma Bell.

When Sherri was in her teens we found out Dad had emphysema. He worked for several years and did taxademy on the side as a hobby. What started as a hobby turned into a proffitable living. He retired and did his taxadermy at home in his shop. He had customers from all over the country; He was that good.

Sherri grew up and married. Dad got worse and worse He spent the last two years in a recliner. He couldn't lay down even with oxygen. After five years of marriage Sherri had a baby girl Nikki. We were afraid he wouldn't live to see his great-granddaughter. She was born July 1st and he passed away three days befre Christmas 1990. I was with Mom when it happened. He never once complained the whole time he was ill. And then he just closed his eyes and went to sleep. my precious dad was gone forever.