When He Was a Wee Lad...

...he had to walk ten miles through the snow, barefoot, to get to school!

My dad says stuff like that every so often to poke fun at other parents who shame their kids with stories like that.

I think that despite the generational gap, complete difference in cultural references, and slight language barrier, my dad and I are closer than most father-daughter sets. We have similar senses of humor, we are both able to drink more than our fair share of alcohol, I inherited his giant skull (thank goodness I didn't also get his enormous ears!), we have the same hands, and we like the same movies.

Although my personality is just like my mom's, my dad and I get along like a house on fire. (My mom and I get along like something quieter. Our relationship is just as strong (if not stronger) than my relationship with my dad, but in a different way.)

All this is just a preface for the real reason behind this post: I was going through one of my portable hard drives to see what was on it, and I ran across some old photos. I mean OLD, like in the 1970's. That's before I was born. That's how OLD my dad is. : )

Doesn't he look like someone you want to hang out with??


















He can still make this face. He still does, every now and again. I have the sneaking suspicion that he hasn't changed much since this photo (he was probably 20 or so) and now (he's turning 57 in September).


















See what I mean? This is him about two (maybe three) years ago, in Tombstone. He's posing for the sake of the O.K. Corral sign behind him. This is his "mentally challenged" face that he puts on whenever someone calls that he doesn't like, or there's a story on the news about someone acting like an imbecile. He doesn't have a single ounce of patience for anyone stupid or lazy.


















I love this picture. My dad's on the right-hand side.

He was an avid mountaineer back in the day, going hiking and rock-climbing pretty often (he's got the freckles to prove his (un-sunblocked) time in nature). I feel like this is what he must have been doing during most of his free time, trekking through the woods. I personally do not appreciate bugs or dirt or sleeping out in the open, so I can't relate, but the picture makes the landscape look gorgeous.

I wish L.A. had autumn.


















Dad and his dad.

Isn't my grandfather cute, with his little cane and his little hat and his little belly?? He was a great man, a great writer, a loving grandfather.

My dad, on the other hand, was a terrible son! Rebellious and hot-tempered (still is).

I love researching my family tree- there's always something new to discover! My grandfather was one of twelve children (he's #11), so there are tons of cousins, aunts, uncles, third-cousins, cousins twice-removed, and blah blah blah, that I haven't ever even met.

I'm still trying to get everyone in my grandparents' generation straight in my head, but someday, I hope to actually have my genealogy done, at least up to the point of my great-great-grandparents, so I can have it framed and hang it up in my house. It'll have to be some tiny little print down near the bottom of the tree, but I believe it can be done!