Father's Day Pictures (in Words)

On Facebook, I'm seeing some very old pictures of fathers.  My pictures of my very young father holding me as a baby are not digitized.  My dad had his Air Force hair cut, and my mom had very 60's clothes (not the flower child version of the 60's, but the Jackie Kennedy stylish 60's as it worked its way into fashion for the masses by the middle 60's).

My pictures of my dad in my youth are also not digitized.  The pictures in my head probably don't exist.  I'm seeing my dad letting us use the pop up camper to play our Little House on the Prairie game.  I'm seeing the fridge and stove that my dad built out of wood and painted, a very early toy.  I'm seeing a world of board games that my dad played, along with chess, which my father taught me in the first grade.  I would not have had that patience.

My pictures of my dad in my teenage years exist only in yellowing form, also not digitized.  Those were the years of road races, running events which we ran together, at least to begin.  I was a plodding runner, so my dad would finish his race and then loop back to find me and run the rest of the race with me.  Somehow, he did this without making me feel ashamed of my lack of ability.

I don't have any digitized pictures of my dad when I was in college.  What kind of picture would capture us arguing about politics but managing to still love each other?

I wish I had a picture of that night in 1989 when my dad just happened to be in town on business and was eating dinner with us.  We had the news on while we prepared pasta, and we got to be together when the first news broke of what would become the dismantling of the wall that divided East and West Germany.  Dad said, "I think this will be a momentous night."  Yes, indeed.

As with all my relationships, the one with my dad has been difficult at times, while joyous at times.  I'm grateful that we've survived the tough times.  I know it could have been otherwise.