FATHER TIME… n. the personification of time as an older man

FATHER: n. a man who gives paternal care to others; PROTECTOR/PROVIDER

“Dad”, “Pop”, “Pa”, “Daddy”, “Poppa”, the list goes on and on, but did we ever put serious thought into what I think is the most important name and function of our Fathers; PROTECTOR and PROVIDER.  Think about that; protector and provider.  To me, that’s the most important item in our childhood, to be a protector of a child, teenager, even adult.  I’m not talking about one’s financial status, either.  That always plays out, but being a physical protector, emotional protector, spiritual protector; that’s my dad.  I can say nothing more, just “I would like to be Him”.  He’s been such an inspiration to me, from my first memory of him, to now.  He is always my mentor, preacher, go-to guy, let’s-talk- baseball kind of guy.  I think probably everyone could add to this list; to me, it’s all-in.

I Love You Dad.

When I was a child, probably under 5 years old, our family went on a vacation up to some lake in Michigan, (it could have been Wisconsin), but there was one thing that sticks in my mind.  My brother and I were in the lake to swim in a designated area, the water maybe up to our knees, and my leg got tangled up in the floating rope, (which wouldn’t let you go out  any further).  For some reason, I couldn’t get my leg out, which made me slip under water, and my head going up and down.  My dad heard my brother yell for him, and the only memory of I have of him in that situation, was to see him come running out, as my head was going up and down under water.  As I look back on it, the water probably wasn’t that deep, my parents would never allow that, but my memory is of him pulling me up, putting me to his chest, and holding me until I stopped crying.  My PROTECTOR.

Thank You Dad.

I remember a situation that I had when I was 5 years old; I remember EVERYTHING that happened, except for one thing, which I’ll mention later.  There was a store one block from where we lived; Jacks Market.  In a smaller town, (almost 55 years ago), sending your kid to the market was very common; our block was full of kids our age; Gene, Sammy, Stan, Charlie, Roger, my brother, the LaHood brothers ,and more, but I can’t remember their names.  The point here, is that we all had run to the store to pick up something, so I had to go up to the store.  As I left the store, there were two cars parked out front of Jacks, which sat on the corner of a side street.  Since the cars were in my line of vision, I guess that I decided to just run out between the cars, without looking, and a car was running up the street, and my face got hooked onto the car door handle, and I was pulled that way for about 20-30 ft, (that’s the part that I don’t remember, the actual impact).  Jack came out from the market and held onto me, as I was bleeding on his butcher apron.  Since my Dad was a policeman, a police car came to the scene before the ambulance did, and I was told that I was losing so much blood, they took me to the hospital in the squad car.  Dad pulled me to his chest to comfort me as I was crying, (and bleeding), and I gave him what I went to the store for, cigarettes.  I handed them to him, and that pack now sits in our Bible.  He was MY PROTECTOR.

Thank You for Holding Me Dad

As we go through life, especially as teenagers, my Dad, (and a lot of Dad’s out there!), pulled me out of a LOT of instances where someone, we could say, might end up behind bars for a weekend; I didn’t have to.  Back in those days, when I was 16, the drinking age in Illinois was lowered down to 18, (for beer and wine only).  my brother gave me his I.D. and draft card.  A group of us were in a bar, and the vice squad came into the bar, (it was known for serving underage drinkers), and took all of us down to jail, and we all had to go to court.  As a kid, it just seemed like another night out, not knowing that the bar would get suspended, (which it did and think of the money it lost), but somehow I got my I.D.’s back.  Can you  imagine that?  My Dad pulled me out of another one.

Thank You for Protecting my Record In My Teenage Years Dad

I cold go on and on, but let’s jump to some of my most important days; when my parents found out that I needed to have an operation to get an 8cm tumor, out of my head, (8cm is over the size of a baseball).  My brother, a true champion for everything that went on in those hospital days, had to tell my parents the situation.  My brother and his wife worked up a plan to tell the folks, so that they wouldn’t know exactly what the severity of the situation was, until they got here in L.A.,  at UCLA.  When my Dad got here, he didn’t say too much, just sat beside my bed, and held onto my arm.  That’s when I knew, speaking isn’t about talking.  We spoke beautifully, it was a magic moment, and I knew, leaning on God, everything is going to be alright,(www.everythingisgoingtobealright.com).  My mom was so bold, more than anything I would ever imagine; two beautiful pods in a wonderful pad.  They both have supported me through everything that I went through.  Support, strong word.  Nothing but support.  In everything that I had been through, my complete life, I have been supported by a timeless father.  A PROTECTOR; MY PROTECTOR.

Now it’s my turn, (with my brother and sister).  My Dad has 2 advanced stages of cancers working on him; Leukemia, and Hodgkin’s Lymphoma.  It’s interesting about life; we come from the dust, and we go back to the dust, but there’s a lot of life in between.  It’s my turn to support him, my turn to be his PROTECTOR, my turn to PROVIDE him with as much happiness as I can possibly give him.  I want to see him laugh, I want to see him smile, I want him to know that I love him as much as he loved me, or hopefully as much.  I want him to know how much I appreciate all he has done for me, even on those days that I’m not the proudest of.  I want him to know how much I’ve admired him, as my Dad, my coaches with baseball, and basketball, and tutoring me on football.  I want him to know everything that I’ve been thinking about, since we found this out about 6 weeks ago.   A lot of things have happened in the past year or so, so none of this info surprised me; I just need to be there for Him, to lean on me, to smile, and laugh.  To lean on his faith for God’s power and service, and how perfect the world will be for eternity.  I just want him to know that I will see him, always, and he has always been in my soul, and I want to give that to him.

I love You Dad.

You have always meant everything to me, and that,”Pop”, will never disappear!  We’ll have aa couple of PBR’s next week when I come over, and laugh, and laugh, and laugh…

JY 576