My dad was a complicated man. People were scared of his temper but on the other hand he loved the wildflowers in the fields around Sacramento. He could be mean and sarcastic but at heart he was a nice guy. He was a violent drunk but he never laid a hand on my mom or me or my sisters in my whole life. A hard worker who played hard too. He wasn’t tall and he self-admittedly wasn’t the greatest looking guy, but he could charm the ladies.
A man with only a high school education but he became a surveyor and taught himself trigonometry on the job. He never made great money but he kept us living in one of the most affluent areas in California. He grew up in difficult circumstances and hung around some REAL tough guys but he did everything he could to help me since I first got sick. Yeah, I miss him. If he could see me now I know he would be proud of me and happy for me.
Yeah, I was the daughter that used to hang our with him. He was also an alcoholic and a loner so it was difficult for us to have a relationship with him, but I tried really hard. Went out to lunch with him every week, until he got worse and then it would be just him saying nonsense and me nodding… The last two years I hardly talked to him, it was too much pain watching him kill himself with wiskey…
My dad was from Sac too, (so was his father), and my dad passed away in 2012, I think of him quite often because he always had those sarcastic (military) sayings that I can’t get out of my head.
@77nick77,
It wouldn’t surprise me if your dad was watching you type your post nodding his head with a huge grin because he is very proud of you, and yes, it would make him very happy to see you happy too.
I miss my dad too. we are very distant, which brings me to talking about losing my step dad whom I really consider my father. I don’t have much time to be with him.
My father has been at the elderly care facility for many years, I visit him weekly and I take photos of him so that I have photos when he passes away. I have visited him over 250 times so far.