My father is quite a handy man. He has always been able to do anything he set his mind to. When I was little I remember having a conversation with my Mom about what Dad COULDN'T do... we used to try to find something, anything that my Dad couldn't do.He builds things ... homes, decks, furniture, patios, room additions.
He fixes things ... automobiles, tractors, road graders, motor homes, plumbing, you name it.
He's even done some upholstery and created some impressive Halloween costumes over the years.
One of my favorite things Dad built was our "camper". (That's what we called it.) He took a 1955 Cadillac and cut it in half and made this camper out of it in our back yard. That's how it was for us... if my Dad wanted something, he would work to make it happen.
Can you see all the kids in the windows??
My parents always saw to it that we got to take family vacations and our camper made it possible. We had some great times in our camper!! We would all pile up top and ride down the road from the upper bunk. That was fun.The camper also served as a "babysitter on wheels". I remember times that we'd all load up in the camper (remember we had 11 kids - or, depending on the year, however many were born at the time) to go visit relatives or friends and when it came time for bed... we'd all get put to bed in the camper. Mom and Dad would then have the rest of the evening to enjoy in relative peace.
We sold our beloved camper before our move to Arkansas, I sometimes wonder whatever became of it. Where is it today? At 53 years old... I'm sure it's seen it's last camping trip.
Camping seems to be a bit of a trend in our neck of the woods these days. Someone asked me if I liked to camp, and I have to say that while I cherish those childhood camping trips, all that pretty much changed in 1977 when we moved to Arkansas and my Dad pitched a great big ARMY tent that we would call "home" for the next year and a half. I'll have to leave that for another blog entry!!!
One of our favorite camping spots - Rock Creek, California
Sunday, June 15 is Father's Day
Thank you, Dad, for being the kind of father we can all look up to. You've given so much of yourself and sacrificed so much to provide for us all. The greatest gift you have given to me is the way you love Mom. I'm honored to call you my father. I love you!
Happy Father's Day!
3 comments:
Your family is interesting. I knew you were from a big family but I don't think I knew you had 10 brothers and sisters. WOW! And that you lived in a TENT! WOW!
The tent was an interesting experience! You can imagine...
That camper is AWESOME! Rhett would love to play in that big thing! He's in phase of wanting to go camping these days...I think we need to take him on a camping trip--tent and all--but I want to wait until 1) snakes hibernate and 2) it's COOLER. :)
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