Happy Birthday Daddy!!
Today is my father’s heavenly birthday. He is celebrating his 78th birthday. Oct 2. Come and Take it Day. He always said Gonzales had a party each year for his birthday with their Come and Take It Festival. Daddy always loved a party!!
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Not a day goes by that I don’t think of him or quote him. He had a million one-liners. Even yesterday at church I thought of him. We arrived just a few minutes before the service started. Daddy hated it when we did that. He used to tell me “just when we get here and I get to sit down, it’s time to get up again!” My family loves quoting him and repeating his silly lines.
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Daddy was born in Gonzales, Texas in 1939. He only got to go to school until the 7th grade, he had to drop out to work. But that didn’t mean my dad was dumb or illiterate. In fact it was the opposite. Despite his poor upbringing, Daddy loved to read. He and my mom read books all the time. It’s why I am such an avid reader to this day, I followed their example. I remember books like ‘The Silver Chalice’, ‘The Grapes of Wrath’ and ‘To Kill a Mockingbird’ among many others. They would read the books then pass them to me. Daddy especially loved history books. All this reading taught him so much. Daddy would sit and watch Jeopardy and could answer all the questions before the contestants. No telling what my daddy could have accomplished had he been born to a family who valued education.
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If you know me at all, you know that my dad was a comic. He kept us laughing all the time and still does to this day. We repeat his funny stories all the time. They still make me laugh until I can’t see straight. Ask me to tell you some of the stories. There are hundreds of them! I’m sharing these stories with my granddaughters now. They love the stories and always want to hear more.
Daddy wasn’t a perfect man, he certainly wasn’t a perfect husband but he was always good to us kids. He was more of a buddy than a father – leaving my poor mom to have to be the disciplinarian. And he never judged anyone. In all of my life I only heard him say anything bad about only 1 person (and he had real good reason to dislike that person). He accepted everyone for who they were, he didn’t care if you were rich or poor, what race or where you came from. He could talk to anyone.
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My husband Timmy is the best cook ever but no one but no one could bar-b-que like my dad. Daddy used any reason at all to celebrate which meant firing up the bar-b-que pit and cooking all kinds of meat. We all miss daddy’s bar-b-ques. He would listen to music and drink beer as he bar-b-qued. He liked all kinds of music – from Tejano to heavy metal. Heck, he took my little brother to a Metallica concert and talked about that for years! He loved it as much as my brother did.
Daddy was only 64 when he died of a heart attack. I hate that he’s not here. Part of him lives on in my back yard. All the banana trees in my back yard were planted by my dad. I have flower pots that he would paint. I have Kalanchoe plants that he gave me. He had a green thumb. In fact he died while weed eating. We used to say that to him - that he would die in his garden like Don Corleone did in The Godfather. Another book that we all read.
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Well – this is sad for me but I know that I will see him again one day. I know my daddy is in Heaven. And because I serve a good God, He will reunite me with my dad when it’s my time. That makes me very happy.
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So Happy Birthday daddy. I imagine your heavenly mansion has all the windows open. I imagine you are in your back yard with Max, Bentley, Trouble and all our other pets who are in heaven. I know you have all your heavenly friends and family over to your mansion for a big beautiful bar-b-que. I bet Jesus is warning you not to put too much grease and salt in your beans.
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I love you!!
