Remembering My Dad

15 Things I remember about my Dad

• 1I remember my Dad coming home from Korea. He was in uniform and walking up the driveway, coming toward us. I was standing on a chair with my nose pushed against the living room window of my grandmother's house. I was 3 years old.
• 2I remember my Dad sitting at the table at the local beer garden in Frankfort, Germany and handing me the cute cork with the goat standing on its hind legs from his bottle of beer. I strung them together to make little necklaces and bracelets. We both loved the weinerschnitzle. I was 4 years old.
• 3I remember my Dad walking our German Shepherd, Asta, when we lived with my grandmother after we came back from Germany. Asta had served with him in Korea. He would take her out every day and would spend hours training her. I was 6 years old.
• 4I remember my Dad helping me make a mock up of the Apollo space module for my science school project. I was 9 years old.
• 5I remember my dad working for NASA during the early days and the signed photograph of the original 7 astronauts he gave me for my birthday. I think I was 13 years old.
• 6I remember my dad being so proud of himself when he created my electric light costume for me to wear in my role in Guys and Dolls. He'd rigged up the light switch to fit inside a pill box hat and then had the lights attached to my costume with the handheld on and off button to rest in my palm. I was 16.
• 7I remember my Dad loving the funny gadget and "executive" Christmas gifts we would give him and how he'd smile and tinker with them before he shared them with the rest of us. I remember the first "executive" gift, I was in my late teens. .
• 8I remember my dad laughing at Christmas the year he had a beard and my daughter didn't recognize him and didn't want to sit by him. I was in my 20s.
• 9I remember my dad sneaking outside to smoke cigarettes because he'd promised he'd quit. I was in my late 20s.
• 10I remember my dad making his famous Artillery Punch for his party guests when he and mom hosted the cast parties. It was a gallon of this and a gallon of that. It was some kind of stout. He loved making that punch and then telling the ingredients to any poor soul who asked. I was in my 30s.
• 11I remember my dad asking me and a friend to dinner after we'd taken my mom to the hospital because she'd had a heart attack. He'd wanted company and wanted to talk. We sat down and he realized he'd left his hearing aid at home. I was in my late 30s.
• 12I remember my dad being so proud of the fact that I was the first one in his family to earn a Masters degree. He had gone to college but never did any postgraduate work. I was in my late 40s.
• 13I remember my dad when he was on 24-hour oxygen and how he'd pad to the kitchen refrigerator and complain about the "long tail" that followed him everywhere and then laugh. I was in my 50s.
• 14I remember my dad giving me a Smithsonian catalog and asking me to order this Black Egyptian cat statue for my mom. He was worried that he'd waited too late. He was so happy when it arrived the day before Christmas. (It was the last gift that he ever chose for my Mom. He died a few months later.)
• 15I remember my Dad for all these memories and so much more. He continues to live in my heart and mind today.