Daddy’s Girl…Maybe!

I’ve been going through poems from long ago, and I realized that I had no poem specifically about my daddy.  He was mentioned in some, but very few.  As I’ve said before, I was a late in life child, my daddy was 40 when I was born.  I think, that, and because I was a girl, made him an ultra-protective, inter-active kind of dad.  We had bad times, but, I understood even when I was younger the reasons behind his behavior.  Even more so now that I’m older, as I said about my mom once, “He did the best he could with what he had.” 

He was an amazing man, and when I say he was strong, it’s not a young girl saying, “my daddy is stronger than yours.”  No, this man, who only stood 5 ft 8 in could lift an engine.  He was quite an athlete in high school, as well.   But, he also was a self-educated, creative soul who cried.  He also was soft-hearted.  When he had a mechanics shop in Michigan before I was born, he would accept bushels of green beans or chickens as payment if a family had no money and needed their tractor for their farm.  After he retired he did the same thing and word got around to the single women in the area that Carus Wade would take payments or in trade, so they could have a car to drive to work.  He was a big believer in “passing it on”.

I don’t believe I’ve known a more grateful person either.  He was grateful for every day of his life.  He had what I call a “mantra”, “This is a good day and the sun is shining, (somewhere)”.  I never in all his years (he was 86 when he passed) heard my dad say, “I’m tired, I had a hard day at work, I just need to rest, etc.”  Never!  He began his day early and worked (until the last couple of years) until it was bedtime sometimes.  He also was not a person to feel sorry for himself.  His dad died when he was 8 months old and he had a hardened step dad who was as course as they came.  He never made excuses for his behavior and sometimes that was hard to take.  But, now I know and understand, and love him just that much more.

I can still hear him saying, “Miss Patricia, never get in a rut, learn something new everyday and give your all to what you love.” 

My “First” Love

He was “stout”

As they used to say.

Years of hard work (and hard play)

Made him so.

A bendable man,

With tough opinions and tears at sadness.

If he wasn’t working,

He was reading.

Self-educated and creative.

He could make what he couldn’t buy.

Positive and a ready smile.

His mantra, “It’s a good day

And the sun is shining (somewhere).

More dependable than any soul I’ve known.

A kind-hearted spirit

Who never kept score.

A role-model for many,

For me, the most wonderful man in the world,

My daddy.