dad
Don’t piss me off
This is my dad with my four brothers. Shortly after we got engaged, a friend of ours saw this picture, turned to my soon-to-be husband and said, “What ever you do, don’t piss her off.” He’s done a fine job of heeding that advice.
5 Things I Learned From My Dad
My father passed away in October, so today, I’m facing my first fatherless Father’s Day. I had a hard time figuring out what to write; there is so much that I’m just not quite ready to talk about yet. I decided to come up with a list of things that I learned from my Dad. […]
This Post Has Been Brought to You by the Number Four
When my niece was nearly four I decided to put together a little book for her birthday. A book about the number 4. I went around taking pictures of things in groups of four: four bananas, four ducklings, four boats, four flowers… And then I contacted my family members and asked them to get in […]
"Enough with the lips moving and the sound coming out"
Or, what my husband said to his mother-in-law. Before you gasp in horror (or secretly cheer) they were just joking around. It made me gasp, but for a different reason. That was just the sort of thing my dad would say. I could see him sitting there with a full on belly laugh, his feet […]
My Mother’s Gift
In 1991 my mom brought home Matt; I was not happy. Although I had moved out, I still had a room at the homestead – a room I needed to clear of my belongings so it could go to this new kid. But that’s not the whole reason I was upset. Taking in kids was […]
Time Management
My dad had a theory, he called it the “Schwartz theory of gaseous expansion,” which stated the material in a room will always expand to fill the available space. No matter how big your room is, it will eventually feel cramped because there’s too much stuff in it. I was thinking about that theory and […]
Shooting Dad
In the few short months between my trip to Alaska for a family reunion in August and my trip to Alaska for my father’s funeral in October, I read Sarah Vowell’s book Take the Cannoli: Stories From the New World. The book had been sitting on my shelf for nearly a year before I finally […]
the C-word
Two weeks ago my dad went in to surgery to remove his spleen because of a blood clot. when they got in there they saw that he had pancreatic cancer that had spread throughout his abdomen. they just closed him back up without even taking the spleen. they told us he has 3 months to […]
Pop
I am so lucky. Happy Fathers’ Day, Pop!
Bebe’s Book; progress
I mentioned in an earlier post that I had come up with (what I think is) a brilliant idea for Bebe’s birthday – a book celebrating Bebe and the number four. So I’ve been calling around to get people to submit photos for this project. My dad apparently had a great deal of fun coming […]