A Tribute to My Dad. by Peggy Hallett April 2013 When we are very young, we think are parents are wonderful. They are the sources of all activities and entertainment, food, drink, treats, stories and laughter, hugs and kisses. We can’t get enough of spending time with our mommies and daddies. Then comes the turbulence we call adolescence. We discover these people we have to live with to be horrible. they are weird aliens who don’t know anything! They can’t dress right, they listen to bad music, tell the same boring stories over and over, and are always a source of embarrassment to you. they have too many rules, no talents or skills except talking about you to some neighbour for twenty minutes in a grocery store aisle! then comes the grace of adulthood. We can look at at these same parents reflectively with wisdom, the kind we gain slowly everyday. If we are blessed enough to become parents ourselves, we really get to see and hear what our own children can say of their grandparents. So from this, I have come to this conclusion.... My dad was cool!! My dad ...could make a yoyo sleep like a baby in a cradle or whip around the world and come snuggly back again. My dad...could really whistle. My dad...grew succulent tomatoes and stunning roses. My dad...could say grace before a meal at lightning speed, usually in latin. My dad...could charm a chipmunk or chickadee to eat out of the palm of his hand. My dad...could make authentic Italian spaghetti sauce, every Saturday until bbq season. My dad...made a mini golf course in his backyard with a swimming pool as a water hazard. My dad...could sketch nudes...and worked very hard at keeping the source of his subjects secret. My dad...could keep us giggling with made up verses of Hey Lottie Lottie Lottie at the campfire. My dad ...could make great flaming Spanish coffee, which I enjoyed...( and I don’t drink coffee) My dad...could balance on the prow of a moving motor boat while capturing his young family in a home movie. My dad...could make a lamp out of an old washing machine agitator. My dad... was an important scientist. When he was working on his experiments he was sure to post a warning on the door of his den that warned: Internal examination of the eyelids now in progress. My dad...had a baseball pitching net in his backyard. My dad...was a creative smuggler. Every hibiscus I have started came from clippings he brought home from Bermuda and grew into massive bushes. My dad...could babysit his grandchildren very attentively while they would toboggan down the stairs... in the house. My dad...had the coolest garage on the street, with a floor of bold stripes and a mural on the back wall. My dad...could patiently stare at his dessert until everyone was given a fork... and he got his last. My dad...could swim around a whole island in Lake Temagami. My dad...had a potter’s wheel in his garage one summer, and patiently taught me how to properly throw a pot. My dad...could negotiate! He would trade two scoops of chocolate pudding for the skin of yours, and three if it was butterscotch. My dad...could build an awning out of old barnwood full of character. My dad...was brave! He once grabbed a flaming pot of oil and threw it outside, and saved out house from burning down. He waited to pass out from those burns until he drove himself to the hospital. My dad...was a 649 lottery genius. Every week he could pick the exact numbers that wouldn’t come up. My dad...could still personalize a painting with a detailed remarque sketch, with just two fingers and a thumb on his drawing hand. And best of all... My dad was cool because once he held a rally at Maple Leaf Gardens, just so he could meet the girl of his dreams...marry her and raise the big family he always wanted, raised in love, like the one he grew up in. Our dad was way cool!