happy fathers' day

hi dad,

image via becky garratt

you're a wonderful papa bear. for the past couple months i've been writing down random memories. you know when someone does something and you get that deja vu feeling because it reminds you of something in your childhood? those are the kinds of things i am referring to. so here are the strange things i apparently associate with you...i don't know why most of them have to do with food.

cutting our baked potatoes into x's on the top and then pinching it open with your fingers. this is my favourite memory of you. it made me think you were so strong and not scared of anything cause those tators were piping hot!

cracking a box of mac caramels down on the table. when i tried to do it, it broke into three awkward pieces. when you did it, it somehow broke into about 20 perfect bite-sized portions.

in the theme of food and breaking things, you always broke a popsicle into two pops by hitting it on the corner of a wall. this was hard for me too, but luckily you were there to take care of it.

driving home from the cottage and stopping at the convenience store in coldwater. you always got tahiti treat (which i don't think they make anymore?) and you never let us drink any. i'm not sure why i didn't just pick tahiti treat too, but it seemed to me like "dad's thing."

on a hot summer's day you would always get a klondike bar. we got popsicles because they were like, forty cents. but you were the dad so you got the two dollar treat and we were always so jealous! when i was older, one time i thought, "i'm an adult now, i can have a klondike bar too!" so i did...but as it turns out, i don't even like them.

at the cottage we would come in from playing and see the adults having a good time and laughing with drinks. i always wanted to a part of that so i came over to you and asked for a drink of your coke (diet pepsi). you said yes and then when i drank it i realized it was rum and coke (pepsi). it was disgusting to me. but you did this to me like twenty times and every time i fell for it!

you always picked me up from work when i was a teenager. you also told me that i stunk but i can't blame you because i worked at a&w.

driving the boat around and around again in circles before finally turning into the bay where our cottage was. if someone asked me "were you scared for your life while your father was driving the boat around and around in circles?", i would say "yes." but then if they asked "really?", i would say "no, not really."