Yesterday was the 5th anniversary of my dad passing so I decided to take a drive up to Erie and toast the old man. What better way to salute the man who taught me hard work, discipline and dedication will take you places, not handouts and whining.
Usually at this time in Erie there would have already been a couple feet of snow but thanks to our friend Global Warming it was in the 40′s and raining. Mom and I drove up to the cemetery and as we got to dad’s grave I sat down a bag and pulled out a bottle with 2 glasses. Mom, looking really confused, asked me what I was doing. I smiled, opened, poured and said “celebrating dad of course!”
It was with him that I shared my first bottle of my first homebrew.
I don’t know where this hobby may take me but I couldn’t think of any better way to christen it than with the man who’s inspired me most.
Cheers pops!
I was listening to some Ozzy earlier today on SiriusXM when Goodbye to Romance came on and of course now I can’t get it out of my head.
We figured it out last weekend that someone in this house is at work every day of the week now. Its almost a necessity now since we sat down and figured out all of the upgrades to the house we want to make, vacations to take and weddings out of town to attend. Diapers, milk and formula seem to keep going up and apparently the govt. frowns upon not feeding or clothing kids. No idea why 
Weekends are a tricky time for us since a good block of each day is dedicated to just watching the kids. Its as though we flip roles when Saturday gets here and that leaves very little time to get any housework done or plans to go outside the border of the house. I’ve been working late hours recently and daylight is getting shorter so trying to squeeze in even cutting grass is next to impossible. Doesn’t help I screwed up my shoulder helping the neighbor with her yard so watching me cut grass can get quite comical.
Does it suck? Yes. Do I accept it graciously? Well yeah, I bitch because I have every right to but its well worth it because weekend time is dude time with my boys and if I didn’t have it I’d miss out on things like this…
My dad and many members of my family were in the military. He was in during Korea, was stationed down in Texas and eventually came back to Erie with my mom and older brother. He would never talk about his days serving but he would always have a smartass smirk on his face about it and kept saying someday he’d tell me. That day never came as he passed in 2006.
Dad loved the American flag. Its fair to say he was obsessed with it. Any patriotic holiday the yard would be covered in flags. Up and down the sidewalk, driveway and from the house a huge starts and stripes would wave. On the day of his funeral my wife and I got up before daybreak (it was also December 9th and in Erie, that’s freaking COLD and snowy) and placed all of his flags in the ground for one last time. After the service at church and on the way to the cemetery the motorcade stopped right in front of his house and at that moment the only wind we would feel started up and all of the flags blew at once in perfect order.
He was buried in an emotional military ceremony which I still have the bullet shells from. Until you’re a part of a ceremony like this I don’t think you can fully understand what its like. When my mom was handed the American Flag that draped over his casket I sat stunned. I finally understood what my dad was trying to tell me. It was the emotion of that moment which showed me that he wasn’t just a hero for being my dad but also for serving his country. It was a way of saying thanks for keeping us free. Be proud to be an American.
The first week of December is always tough for me. Correction, it’s fucking tough. 3 years ago as I type this we were burying my dad and I think that its this anniversary that I’m having the most issues with it. Not because I’m going all mental or anything along those lines but its more of the anger phase. I think of everything that has happened over the last year and that he wasn’t around for it. Most importantly he never got to hold his grandson whom I know would be spoiled beyond belief. I guess I’m more upset that Teaspoon won’t get to know him but the ironic thing, I think he does. I wont go into details and freak all yinz out but I know dad is around. I can fell when he’s in the room and even creepier, I can smell his cologne. So even with my anger comes some peace. Teaspoon has a guardian angel and there is no one else better for the job.
Quite a few key life events happened this week that I’ll share and why I usually drop off the world for a bit.
- December 5, 1998 – Moved from Erie to Pittsburgh and into my first solo apt in beautiful South Oakland. damn smelly hippies.
- December 5, 2006 – Dad has massive heart attack while snow blowing for 3 hours so the shut-ins could get visitors. Rushed to ER and put on life support.
- December 6, 2006 – Dad officially passes around 7:21am. My world becomes simply a huge can of wtf
- December 7, 1998 – Started my first day at FORE Systems. I expected it to be a 3 month internship, not 10 years of employment
- December 9, 2006 – Dad is buried on a day of freezing cold temps and a majestic snowfall. Ceremony concluded with military gun salute and mom is presented with an American Flag.
It was also during this week in 2005 that I first toyed with the idea of starting this new thing called a podcast. I wouldn’t record anything until Jan 20, 2006 in what became the first recording of Father Spoon. We all know what happened from there…
This is Jackson and I hanging out for the first time. More pics soon…
Today would have been my dad’s 74th birthday and I’ve made a habit of driving to Erie and have a cigar with him at the cemetery. Today though it’s pouring down rain and the motor on my wipers is just about shot so I’m staying home and taking a day for myself. Yeah, and I’m still online. Even when I’m off I’m still on. Happy Birthday dad. Stop the rain and I’ll go outside and have that cigar.
I was sent an invite to join Bright Kite last week and it’s starting to get addicting like Twitter. The jist of BK is that it’s location-based social networking. What I dig is that I can post pics from my cell phone and BK will publish it to my Twitter account. I’m not very kosher on the whole “here is my exact location” idea but you can have that limited to the state you’re in. The plus side though is I can see if anyone else is in my general area when I want to hang out. It’s like a GPS of others.
Pens won 4-2 last night and are 2 games away from the Stanley Cup Finals. Midway through the 2nd period I already had calls from Flyers fans saying the series was over. Nice eh? I’m still sticking with my prediction of Pens in 7 only because Philadelphia fans are insane and can give that team of thugs enough spirit to pull out wins… or Geno will just blast more goals past his biatch Biron and this is over in 4. I have tickets to game 5 so part of me is also hoping that I get to see the clinching game here.
