@Amie Ar - brought a tear to me eye you did, what lovely memories you have. Cling onto them - he's right beside you x
I'm sorry that you miss your dad so much @Amie Ar - I relate to that feeling completely. It's 23 years since he died - I still "chat" to him from time to time.
@Julie Stewart - My God Julie, that's terrible, so very sad - what we all have to go through in life ................
That's true - but the great thing is my mum and dad ahd a super marriage and were madly in love with each other until the end. Dad died at home and we all took turns sitting with him and chatting to him. We had been advised to keep talking as he slipped into a coma as he would be able to hear us. Mum went to sit with him, at that point he hand't spoken in response to any of us for over 3 hours and his eyes hadn't opened for even longer. She lay down next to him and snuggled and he said "Tess" (her name). She asked him, "How did you know it was me?" He said, "Your smell".
My best memories of my Dad was when my mom and brothers would get dressed in our best and go to the dock to watch my Dad's ship come back from a 'cruise'. Hundreds of sailors, all dressed in their whites, would come down the dock toward us and we could always tell him by his walk. Funny how we always knew it was him. Later as I grew up, I couldn't understand why he was always 'out to sea' and felt abandoned sometimes. We met up once in Hawaii, both in uniform, and he told me he was sorry that he was gone so much as I was growing up. Fast forward to a conversation I had with my two sons after I retired from the military and told them the same thing. Hard when you know you missed some of the major events in their lives. Finally understood what he must have felt. And a thought about how Strong my Mom and Wife had to be during those times we were gone.
My dad was the comic in the family, and didn't think he could take anything serious. He could do a mimic of WC Fields. When we would go on a trip, he would tell the neighbor, "Yep were going on a trip to broaden our horizons, young lady." She was 80 yrs. If he would be upset, all he had to do is clear his voice, and we'd be in the next county. He and uncle ran a bathhouse in Hot Springs Ark. You couldn't own the property because of it being a National Park, only the business. Hot Springs was the M&M town, Mafia & Military. this was the 40's. My folks separated, but we went on the trains, not quite alone. They had stewardess on trains. And visit our dads & uncles. Yep cousins came too.
Laughing so hard, trains and WC Fields. We had to board in Toledo, Ohio, to Chicago, Ill. That train was New York Central, Then catch the Rock Island Line from Chicago to Arkansas. I remember that train having a barber shop on it as well as the smoking lounge. Dining car, stewardesses, almost forgot the Club car. One beautiful train.