Personal History #4

Write about your dad.  What would you like people to know?

Here's the truth, I don't know a lot about my dad.  I lived with my mom full time, but every other weekend I would go to his house and 2 weeks in the summer.  When I would go every other weekend, it wasn't like I was spending quality, one on one time with my dad.  My dad remarried shortly after I moved to Georgia, I was probably around 7 or 8.  I had a step sister Melissa that I would primarily hang out with on my weekends at my dads.  Melissa was a year younger than I was.  My dad loved sports.  He coached Melissa's softball teams for many, many years.  Some of my fondest memories are throwing the ball with him, I was never very good at it though.   

Here are some things I knew about my dad.  My dad retired from the Air Force and then started working for the post office. My dad was born in Mississippi.  My dad had a poor heart, some is due to hereditary, his dad passed away when he was in high school, however a lot probably had to do with drinking and smoking.  I loved my dad, despite not really knowing him very well.  

I remember the last time I saw my dad, I was about to move to Kansas and wanted to see him before I moved.  He had just moved out of my Aunt Karen's house after going through a divorce.  It was around 230 and he was very drunk, while I was there he went to sit in a chair and missed, he fell over and tore his skin on his forearm.  The skin was like paper, it just folded onto itself.  I found his first aid kit, cleaned it as best I could, wrapped it.  I was so mad that he was so drunk that I poured out the liquor in his kitchen, he was really mad at me for that.  I left shortly after that and that was the last time I saw him alive.  He passed away in his sleep in the next couple of months.  I was so sad that I didn't really tell him goodbye, that I had argued with him the last time I saw him.  

Recently I asked my aunt to email some things about my dad.  I cried after I read it, so much I didn't know about my dad and his side of the family.  The following is some of what she told me.  

"Your dad joined the Air Force after he graduated from high school in 1970.  Everyone loved Carl, especially the girls.  Being 4 years younger I adored him.  He was a STAR athletic-catcher in baseball, tackle and fullback in football, and forward in basketball.

After church on Sunday nights, he would take me and Karen to the local tastee freeze for ice cream.  After that we would go to a long bridge where Carl along with his friends would drag race.  Of course, mama did not know about this adventure.  He would make me and Karen get out of the car and stand by the road before he raced.  He said he did not want us to get hurt."

I'm thankful that I have the little bit I do know about my dad.  He wasn't a perfect man, he made a lot of poor choices in his life.  But he was my dad, he loved me the best he knew how.