My dad let us practice our pro wrestling skills when I was a kid. When my step brother and I hauled the other step brother to the top bunk, sat on the edge on either side of him, grabbed the back of his underwear with both hands, and shoved him off, my dad laughed. Skid marks don't lie.

If you met my dad you'd realize I got no complaints.

my ol'man was cool up untill he lost his marbles back in 78 of a nervious break down. he never fully recovered from that. he has battles with depression too. so needless to say he's a bit of a loone now. i have two sons now 3&1 i will never let him meet these to grandchildren. he's a total failure of a grandfather. it's a very sad life he leads now. he has disowned everybody.

whats funny though is that he, over there has given usso many things to laugh about. way to many things to get into here but good god to funny.

heres one though that really tells my dads life story in a nut shell. like to hear it? here it goes!

dad was fishing one of the upper cowlitz tribs where the BD hatchery was dumping excess silvers on the cowlitz. the ol'man was fishing with last friend he had at the time. for some reason the o'm really wanted to know where the spot was that the hatchery was dumping silvers. don't know why but he did.... we he and his last buddy was fishing a spot that was down off the road abit. catching nothing of course when the o'm hears a diesel truck up on the road, but he can't see what the truck is. he figures its the hatch'truck. so he tells kelly "grab your [censored]" the trucks here!!! come on hurry lets go watch! so they get thier [censored] together and beat feet up the trail. they scamper up the muddy trail. finally they reach the top to where the truck is... well guess what? it was the shitter truck to suck the honey buckets!!!! the honey bucket guys sees them all but run into his truck, and says to them with a straight face. boys your going to have to wait, the shitters are full.... need cleaning!

During his younger years dad was drafted into the military about a month before the end of the Korean War. He finished basic, and then they sent him to New Mexico & Nevada for some atomic bomb tests. You know, the ones where they have the soldiers get in the trench, then set 'er off. There is a sign at the entrance to a military facility that they show on almost every program about the bomb tests in that area during the 50's, and he painted it. That's about as close to fame as he got.

Dad was a teacher for 30 years. Has a masters in Economics and History. He retired from teaching in 1991 or so, and then began to travel. Great social studies teacher in the Olympia School District, and he also coached baseball, ran the public address at games (baseball, football, basketball).

After a bit of travel he started volunteering, working as an NAC in a local hospital in the oncology (cancer) wing, but they realized he was pretty intelligent so they had him running the statistics gathering for their oncology dept. They liked him so much that they hired him full time. Eventually the company that he reported all of his findngs to lured him away from the hospital, and then he moved up to a national level, working directly with the American Cancer Society. After about 10 years doing this he retired from this job.

He was still restless, so at the age 66 he started volunteering with the Red Cross. First he did local stuff, but dad always likes a challenge, so after helping people deal with their own disasters here in Washington he raised his hand to become a disaster relief coordinator. These guys are the first folks to go in after a natural or man made disaster, and usually the last to leave. He loves this because he gets to travel the US, visiting all of the places filled with the history he learned and taught over the years.

He spent about 9 months in New York over two years time after 9/11. He's been to every backwater area in the midwest that gets hit by flooding or tornados, and he has spent a considerable amount of time in Florida and Louisiana helping folks cope with the aftermath of the muliple hurrincanes that have devistated those areas.

We get to see him about 6 months a year, if we are lucky, and I always make it a point to take him fishing when he's home in the summer. In case you can't tell, I'm pretty proud of the man. He kind hearted, always gives of himself before thinking of others, and he could snap you like a twig, even at the age of 73, because he lifts weights 4 to 5 days a week. Our nickname for him is "Arnold".

I was a punk ass kid at times, but his example, not force or unkind words, brought me in line. I now also volunteer, with 50 or so hours a year with Ducks Unlimited, and 200+ hours each year with our local school district. I'm a member of the school board for our community, and I'm involved in raising my kids to the standard my dad set for me.

If I become half the man that he is, I'll be a lucky man.

Dogfish--That was truly a nice read.

RVW

i inheirited my dad's love for catching and eating steelhead. i'm not sure whether to hate him or love him.