OMG Dad!!!

My dad seemed to believe childhood was sort of a boot camp to prepare for adulthood--and he was the drill sargeant. He tried to keep us as busy as possible to keep us out of trouble. It didn’t work, but he gave it a good try! At some point I want to post about some of the odd experiences I had doing chores for him. But today’s post is about some of his experiences. When I was in college I started hearing stories about the things my dad and his brothers did when they were kids. After that I completely understood why he wanted to keep us busy!

Incident #1: One day my dad and his 2 brothers skipped school to chop down a tree on their farm. There was only one ax, so they took turns. During one of my dad’s turns the tree was almost ready to fall. It was his older brother’s turn, but my dad wanted to strike the final blow. His brother tried to stop him, but my dad was determined. He took one more swing…and he put the ax into his brother’s leg!!! Their younger sister ran screaming for help. It couldn’t have been too deep a cut—my uncle walks fine. How hard can an 8 yr-old swing an ax???

Incident #2: Skip to #3 if you are squeamish! Whew! Here goes. Back in the day, where they grew up, boys were not circumcised until just before they started school. When it was my dad’s turn, he was rewarded with a bag of candy for taking it like a man! Later his younger brother asked if he could have some of the candy. My dad told him it was only for boys who had been circumcised. My uncle was afraid of doctors, but he really wanted the candy. My dad came up with a solution. He had watched the doctor and was sure he could handle the procedure. Yes! He grabbed his mother’s shears and took his little brother down to their barn. A few minutes later their younger sister walked into the barn, saw blood, and ran screaming for help. Fortunately that uncle was fine too—he went on to father 4 kids. No DNA confirmation though! Haha!

Incident #3: There was a covered bridge near my dad’s farm. He and his brothers liked to climb up inside it where no one could see them. Sometimes they would just hang out. Other times they would pay attention, waiting for cars to approach the bridge. They especially liked to see a convertible w/its top down. Why? Because they would try to time it so that as the car passed over the bridge (and under the covered part) they would pee on the car. My dad the juvenile delinquent! =)

After hearing how my dad had tramatized his brothers and little sister I understood why he thought he needed to be a drill sergeant. He was afraid we might take after him!!! LOL!

Also, as much as these stories made me cringe, I took them as reminders that parents are people too. They have a past full of successes and failures, good decisions and bad, etc., etc. If you have a mom or dad who is a hero to you, treasure that. They worked hard to achieve it. If you don't, well, they're only human...like us.