Today would have been Daddy’s 89th birthday.
1) I was thinking yesterday about how, when I was learning to drive, he brought me out to Chennault Air Force Base to practice in its large, abandoned parking lot.
2) Just rediscovered the photo above on my external hard drive this morning. I really like it because it looks like Daddy at his best, quiet but with some sharp intelligence and humor behind his eyes.
2a) He did love to laugh, and like me, he had a BIG laugh.
3) It’s interesting how people have vocal mannerisms or words or phrases that identify them so unmistakably. In my mind I can hear Daddy exclaim “Whoooooaaa, billy ca san!” or ask “How’s the finances?” (a popular question in my 20s I was always loath to answer) and it just couldn’t be anyone else. To this day I can hear him singing “Detour:” “Dee-tooooooour! There’s a muddy road ahead! Dee-tooooooour! Paid no mind to what it said. Dee-toooooour! Only bitter things I find. Should have reeeeead that detoooooour sign.”