I'm going to be posting memories of me and my Dad here. I'll be adding more stories as I think of them, so that I have them in one place and I can read and share these memories of the most amazing Dad and friend a guy could ever have.
Ok happy memory time.
When I was a kid, we got walkmans one year for Christmas. In the evening, Dad was sat on the couch with his new headphones on, his eyes closed and a smile on his face.
And I asked him: "Dad, what are you smiling about?"
He said: "I can take my music with me, and this, this is music."
With that he put the headphones on my head and it was the first time I heard "The Boxer" by Simon & Garfunkel.
It was the start of my musical education.
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Another Happy Memory
**WARNING**
This memory of Dad and me references a public figure who we now know is deplorable. We did not know then what we know now, but this is a father/son bonding memory and nothing will ever tarnish that for me. ANYONE WHO TRIES TO DO SO WILL BE DELETED AND BLOCKED IMMEDIATELY. And I swear by the Goddess, The Lords of Kobol, The Old Gods & The New, Aslan & Primus that I will curse you and your family for the next 7 generations!
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I get a lot of my sense of humour from my Dad. He introduced me to comedy. Not just sit coms on TV, but stand up comedians. As a kid I knew Lenny Bruce, George Carlin, Richard Pryor, Robin Williams, Don Rickles, Jonathan Winters and Bill Cosby, among others.
The first comedy album, the first comedy bit I remember is Bill Cosby's Basketball story. Then Ennis' Toilet, Revenge, The 9th Street Bridge, Fat Albert stories and so forth. Me and Dad could recite hours of these bits and we could pick up where the other left off once we started going. It was amazing fun for me.
In 2009, Bill Cosby came to Newfoundland for a show at Mile One Centre. As soon as I found out, I logged into the site, booked three tickets for me, him and my step mom and then held off on finalizing the purchase.
I called Dad and told him Cosby was coming and we needed to go. Dad was always one who could find tickets to shows or new someone who knew someone who had spare, unused tickets. Dad himmed and hawed and thought about his contacts. The show was in December and he realized that getting tickets might prove impossible. Hearing the defeat in his voice was crushing. Cosby's coming he doesn't think he can get tickets.
So I clicked purchase and said "We're going, I have three seats in the third row. Merry Christmas Dad."
He didn't believe me at first, but as it sunk in he was beside himself with joy. He was amazed. We went to the show and had the time of our lives. Me an him sitting there, listening to Cosby in person, and when he did The Dentist bit we said it along with him while my step mom looked at us like we were totally crazy and she was disowning us. We didn't care at that point.
Dad never spoke too much about his feelings, he didn't need to. We both knew how we felt about each other. But when I got home, he had sent me an email that I will treasure until the end of time.
Steve
Words cannot express the joy of this years Christmas gift. To actually see Bill Cosby LIVE and In person will be one of the greatest memories in my life. To sit with you and both of us remembering those great times listening to Cos and being with my son to see him live means something words cannot describe. Thank you so much for a great Christmas present and great memory shared with you.
Dad
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Happy Memory
**WARNING**
This memory references a public figure who we now know is deplorable. We did not know then what we know now, but this is a father/son bonding memory and nothing will ever tarnish that for me. ANYONE WHO TRIES TO DO SO WILL BE DELETED AND BLOCKED IMMEDIATELY. And I swear by the Goddess, The Lords of Kobol, The Old Gods & The New, Aslan & Primus that I will curse you and your family for the next 7 generations!
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If you aren't fortunate enough to have ever heard Bill Cosby's early comedy, you missed out. One of his bits that struck a chord for me and my sister Carla was about Chocolate Cake For Breakfast.
"The child wanted chocolate cake for breakfast! How ridiculous! And I said... and someone in my brain looked under chocolate cake and saw the ingredients: eggs! Eggs are in chocolate cake! And milk! Oh goody! And wheat! That's nutrition!"
After my parents separation, Dad moved into an apartment in the old military buildings in Pleasantville. We would stay with Dad on the weekends. Our first weekend after he moved in, we all sat down to a healthy, nutritious, McCain's Deep n' Delicious Chocolate cake... for breakfast!
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Happy Memory
I'm a bookworm, I get that from my mom. Both parents encouraged it and fed into it by buying me books over the years. In grade 8 I got hooked on Sherlock Holmes, and read a lot of the classics, 20,000 Leagues Under The Sea, The Time Machine, War Of The Worlds and so on.
In high school, my good friend Tony was raving about this book, Dragons Of Autumn Twilight. It was all he talked about for a good couple of weeks. So I asked where he got it and he said Timemasters. Well, on one of my weekends with Dad I mentioned the book and he said "Let's go get it then." and off we went downtown.
My first time in the store, I never wanted to leave. In the 90s and today, it's a nerd paradise. I found the book easily enough on a rack, and then saw Dragons Of Winter Night, Dragons Of Spring Dawning and Dragons Of Summer Flame. I didn't know there were four books, either Tony didn't say or I didn't hear him. My heart sank that I'd only be getting one of the books and then have to wait to get the others over time as I saved money.
Dad saw it too, and picked up all four books. I looked at him, confused, and he said "well if there's four books, we get four books. Nothing worse than finding out there's a 'To Be Continued' at the end."
and that's how I got The Dragonlance Chronicles.
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To say that my Dad was a sports fan is a bit of an understatement. He could rattle off facts, figures, stats, names and plays for almost any sport (never asked him about F1 lol) Mention Boston and tuck in, because you'd be there for a while just listening.
On the other hand, I am a nerd. That too is an understatement.
Chalk and cheese. Night and day.
How did this happen you might ask? How did I not become the second biggest sports fan in Newfoundland? It's simple. Because of both my parents, Mom and Dad.
Yes I played sports as a kid. I played T-ball and Hockey and was in power skating. I wasn't bad, I just didn't have the passion for it. I could take or leave it, I didn't eat, sleep and breathe any sport that I was introduced to. I liked watching hockey on tv, I hated golf, that much I shared with Dad.
But as much as I was asked to try these things, I wasn't ever forced to keep doing something I didn't want to. Dad never demanded I like hockey, he never forced me to watch baseball if I didn't want to. He didn't pressure me to follow the same road he did or walk in his footsteps. I was allowed to find my own way.
Turns out my own way lead to reading and watching a lot of Sci-Fi and Fantasy and becoming first a Star Trek Fan. Then Doctor Who. Space 1999, Blake's 7, Blizzard Island, The Little Vampire, Heavy Metal, The Dark Crystal, The Never Ending Story and whole universes.
I can rattle off facts and figures about tv shows and movies and name episodes after seeing just five seconds and summarize a plot for whoever's listening. Get me going and tuck in, cause you're gonna be here a while.
Sound familiar?
Sports fan and nerd. Both passionate about their own things.
Maybe I'm not so different than my Dad after all.
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