For our Dad

My dad grew up during the Depression, and it is true that those who did so will always carry a part of it with them. Frugality and the attitude of "do the best with what you have" are two of the many lessons he learned. Let me just share a specific example of how he has used these lessons in his everyday life for years. It's one that is rather funny and my mom and my sisters and others who we have told about it over the years have always laughed about it.

One thing we never had while I was growing up was a new car. In fact rarely would my dad buy a car that was not at least 10 years old, and they nearly always had at least 100,000 miles. Incidentally, we had a whole lot of cars over the years. And all those cars always needed work. I don't remember us taking any one of them to a mechanic until I was in high school. Dad developed the necessary skills over the years to fix just about everything that was wrong with them. And he probably kept Haynes in business with all the vehicle repair manuals he bought. (In turn when I got my first car, nearly the first thing I bought for it was the Haynes manual - HA!)

Many times he would stray from the manual if something wasn't working quite like it should. Perhaps that's where I get part of my scientific tendencies - try it this way and see what happens. He was known to employ three things that were always easily attainable and very cheap: duct tape, twigs and coke cans. One was always in the house, the others in the yard or trash. Saved 50 cents there. The duct tape wasn't as much a stretch as were the twigs. Many people implement the tape for covering holes in hoses until they can be replaced. Only my dad probably wouldn't replace them. If it was working, he would leave it that way. But twigs and coke cans - well here's where it gets interesting. For some reason Dad would always find hoses under the hood that seemed to have no where to go. They would be hooked up on one end and free on the other. Instead of figuring out where they were supposed to go, he would stuff them with twigs. And somehow, at least according to him, they always helped the car to run better. The rpm idle always seemed to even out. There was one point when we had three of the same type of car. Different years and colors, but all were Dodge Colts. I want to say that he made sure there were twigs in the same places in all three whether they needed a twig or not. If that's not a correct memory, I wouldn't have put it past him. The coke cans would often help hold something up away from something else is wasn't supposed to be touching or added decoration - I don't remember exactly.

Well, I was shopping for his Father's Day card last weekend. I laughed out loud in the store when I found this one. I scanned it before I mailed it so I could post it here today. Now that you've heard this story, you'll appreciate the card more. I did forget to scan it before I signed it, but I didn't write anything too serious so it's okay if you read it. I mailed it first to Rebecca who was then to mail it to Ruth Ann who was to take it to Debi so we could all sign it for him. A special card just for our dad. Keep in mind, this card was really one in the store. I added duct tape to the edge just for decoration and humor, and Rebecca was supposed to find some small twigs to glue inside. I called him today, and he still hadn't gotten it, so I don't know what exactly happened. I can't wait to hear his reaction. Happy Father's Day, Dad.

UPDATE: Okay, so this week was my neice's birthday (Ruth Ann's daughter). Ruth Ann got the card from Becca and assumed it was for her own birthday in two weeks. Perhaps Becca was just being efficient, she thought. Then she remembered last night. I just called and everyone was at Mom and Dad's house, and he had read the card. He didn't "get it" without explanation though (silly Dad). Even when I just talked to him now he told me he also thought we had actually bought it at a garage sale and made it ourselves. But he laughed, and that's all we wanted.