From Randy (my cousin) over at Genea-Musings:
it's Saturday Night -
time for more Genealogy Fun!!!
Your mission, should you decide to accept it, is to:
1) Sunday is Father's Day in the USA and is usually a time for memories and gratitude to our father figure/person.
2) For this week's SNGF, tell us three things about your father that are special and memorable to you.
3) Tell us about it in your own blog post, in a comment on this post, or in a Facebook or other social media post. Please leave a link on this blog post to help us find your post.
Here's mine:
My father was Gilbert Earl Tapley (1928-2008). He was born in Johnson County, Georgia and lost his father when he was only seven years old. After that, he, his mother and siblings moved around a LOT chasing jobs. When he was 14, he got in trouble for trying to syphon gas out of a truck and was sent to the juvenile detention center in Milledgeville, Georgia. He was there for 14 months and it shaped who he became. My father was a tough man, i.e., controlling, angry, had little respect for women, and it was his way or the highway. However, he was still my father and there are some things he did that are good memories for me. No person is all good or all bad. Life and the people in it are all shades of gray.
1) My father knew how to have fun sometimes:
He would get up at 2 or 3 in the morning, scoop me up, pajamas and all, lay me down in the back seat of the car and we would head to Jacksonville, Florida (a 4 hour drive) for the day to see my uncle or cousins or whoever. Being a little girl, it was fun, exciting, and I felt special to get an entire day with my father. He was more relaxed on these trips and that alone made them special days.
He didn't work when I was little; he was my caregiver. That was not always a picnic, but when we went to KMart, it was a hoot. They would announce a blue light special over the intercom, and he would take off fast walking like he couldn't wait to get a bargain. I still remember the sound of the change jingling in his pocket. I would chase after him just laughing my head off.
When he quit smoking cigarettes, he switched to cigars for awhile. I was very little - just walking. He would give me a cigar still in the cellophane wrapper and let me walk around stores acting like I was smoking. Oh the little old ladies were appalled.
He taught me to drive a 3 wheeler.
We went on vacation every year to the North Carolina mountains.
2) My father did something for me that I will never forget, and I have spoken of it on this blog before. When my uncle lied to my father and told him that when his wife kicked him out, she didn't allow him to take any of his belongings, including items that belonged to my grandmother, but then my father found my grandmother's jewelry box, pictures, and Bible in our shed, he didn't hesitate. He knew my love for family history even then (I was probably around 10 or 11.) and he gave me those items. I still have them, of course. I will never forget that one act of kindness and understanding.
3) My father had my back when it counted.
When the bus driver dropped me off in the wrong place and my father had to come find me, my father got that driver fired.
My father told me, "You will get into fights with your little friends and tell me about how you were wronged. Then you and your friend will make up. But I won't forget how you were hurt."
When my ex-husband and I had to file bankruptcy, Daddy didn't judge or say much of anything. But when we had to let my car go back, he gave me a car to drive. He always made sure I had a car to drive.
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| Daddy and I "smoking" our cigars Circa 1969 Augusta, Georgia |
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| The first car my dad bought me 1975 Chevrolet Monte Carlo baby blue with white seats abt 1985 |
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