By Grant McGee
I
haven’t written much about my father.
It’s only recently that I’ve been able to find the words to give him the
praise he deserves.
You see
Dad was a career man. What I remember
most about Dad was he yelled a lot, it was tough having a conversation with him
and besides, he didn’t talk much to my brother, my sister or me. In our house if you wanted to communicate
with Dad, you did it through Mom.
I
finally understood some of what happened in the past as I chatted with The Lady
of the House about growing up with Dad.
“So
when you were a teenager your dad was in his fifties,” she said. “Okay, you and I are in our fifties. Imagine a teenager in our midst.”
The
thought of it made my hair stand on end.
I got a
lot of things from my dad though. It was
pointed out to me that a goodly portion of my love of music may have come from
my father. His “Hi-Fi stereo” was one of
his most prized possessions. He’d listen
to a lot of records by guys like Glenn Miller, Artie Shaw, Harry James, Benny
Goodman, Frank Sinatra and Jerry Vale and called it “the greatest music ever
recorded.”
Some of
Dad’s “rules” that have stayed with me are ones like: “You never get a second chance to make a first
impression,” or “When the opportunity comes up to advance your career, take
it,” or “When you’re talking to someone look them in the eye,” or “Always line
up the buttons of your shirt with your belt buckle and your fly.”
Dad went
“on to Glory” 32 years ago.
I
always wanted to talk to him about “the stuff of life” but we never did.
There
was this one time when I was grown that we had a big yelling match and I’m
sorry I did that.
There
were times I told my father, “I love you.”
I’m glad I got to do that.
If your
dad is still around why not talk to him on Sunday?
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