Happy Father's Day, Dad!

I bet you didn't think I was going to write about you like I did for Mom. You are just as important to me as Mom is. You have influenced my life in many ways.

Bluegrass Music Appreciation

Yes, I'm deaf, yet you've taught me the love and the powerful rhythm that bluegrass and acoustic country music has. To this day, I love listening to Johnny Cash, Bill Monroe, Jimmy Skaggs, and many others. I remember Sundays that you and I would listen to the music on the National Public Radio from Athens. You showed me the rhythm by tapping your fingers and your toes and putting my hands close to the speakers. You've taught me a little bit of the history of bluegrass music. It was developed in the Appalachians -- which is where our family is strongly rooted. Through music, you've taught me to be proud of my identity, and to remember my heritage.

Value of Hard Work

Dad, you worked very hard to be where you are today. Working as a deputy sheriff and as a farmer was not easy. I still don't know how you did it. Watching you work taught me the importance of working, the joy of working, and the steadiness of working regardless of bad or good times. Also, I've learned that if you want to get what you want, you'll have to do the hard work. Where did I learn that? On the farm. Especially in that huge garden with potato patches, 'punkin' patches, green beans, tomatoes, peas, cabbage, and cucumber patches. If we want the fresh and good vegetables, we have to plow the dirt, plant and cover, water when needed, hoe and plow, dig and harvest the vegetables.

Communication & Learning

Dad, you learned ASL to communicate with me. Not many fathers do this. You're one of the lucky few. Through you using ASL, I've learned so much about the world. I learned a lot about the farm, because you used ASL to tell me how to milk a cow, how to feed a baby calf, how to feed the chickens, how to chase a cow back into the pasture, how to fix a fence, how to plant potatoes, and how to lead Flossie, an old pony. Yes, on the farm, I complained of the heat, the mosquitoes, the sun, the wind, the cold, and the rain... It may have seemed to you that I was never happy; I admit I was and still am a complainer. Yet over the years, I've mellowed.

Oh... you taught me a lot about the Indians who lived in Ohio, and we went searching for Indian arrows in the cornfields. That was fun! I've learned so much from you about police work. I remember us hunting for marijuana plants in the cornfields, and how we found them even in our own cornfields. Did you ever find the people involved? I forget if you did or not.

You also shared the love of geography and geology with me. You love looking at maps, and so do I. We watched geological TV shows together and discuss how the continents changed due to the glaciers from the Ice Age. You explained to me how to identify a hill and a mountain, by looking at the rock layers.

I remember one time you asked me to help communicate with a 'crazy deaf' woman. I was so young, and you figured out that she was pretending to be deaf. That was my first exposure to a person with mental illness. I was shocked to see a person who can do that. Because of that experience, I understand sometimes people can't help themselves and they need help. You were there to see that she got the help.

Presence

Dad - you've always been there when I need you. You supported and encouraged me to do whatever I wanted to do. If you felt I was working or thinking too hard, you used to say, "I can see the steam coming out of your head. You may want to cool that off," with your head cocked a little to the right and your finger pointing to me. You knew that it was important for me to get my education, and you followed through with Mom. I wouldn't be where I am today with you and Mom.

Thanks for being my dad.

Let us remember men and women who have died fighting for our freedoms. Without them, we wouldn't be where we are today. These men and women have fought with valiant and honor. They stood up for something that is greater than all of us: the ideal of a country living in freedom and all people having representation in government. Sadly, many countries do not have that liberty. Nor are they aware of their potential of creating something like this in their country.

We should be thankful for being who we are. Americans. We take our freedoms for granted, not fully realizing that these freedoms came with a cost, our soldiers who died.

Let us take a moment of silence to remember those who died in all wars.



Image is from this website: http://www.hattiesburg.org/media/images/uploaded/americanflag.jpg

Update: I didn't know that almost every other blogger already written about this topic. I was working today, and came straight home to write my thoughts. I hadn't even read other blogs until after the fact. Oh well. At least, some people remembered and expressed their feelings about Memorial Day.

It's snowing here, and it's beautiful out there. I couldn't resist taking pictures this morning. So here they are. I used my Mac's web camera. So the resolution isn't that great, but that's all I have for now.


This is the snow out front. Isn't this beautiful?


This is the one in the back. Gorgeous, isn't it?

It took me a while to do this... livejournal was acting up. I'm thrilled to see this is working now!