themusicalmoose (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
themusicalmoose) wrote2009-05-23 01:46 am
themusicalmoose) wrote2009-05-23 01:46 am
Entry tags:
My dad...
Late "out-of-town" entry...
Just a word or two about my father. Love my dad. Period. We have had some "kinks" in our relationship through the years, mostly due to yours truly being a selfish, spoiled, egotistical, ungrateful brat of an only child. Of course, I can admit that here but not to him. It's a guy thing me thinks.
But this isn't a heavy entry. Just something that really freakin' cracks me up about my father... something that I want to remember. Since I've been old enough to notice or care, my dad has had one particular idiosyncrasy related to driving. Well, more specifically, PARKING. Dad is... well, how can I describe his personality in a few words? He is the quintessential quite "absent-minded professor." He pretty much lives in his own world, except when he is teaching or performing. He is a brilliant musician and choral director. He is truly the most gifted person in a variety of different ways that I have ever known. He IS my dad and I know that many sons or daughters say such things. But he truly is. Since I was small, I have been awed- even slightly intimidated- by the things that he can do.
But dammit... he cannot park a car STRAIGHT if the space is 3 car lengths wide, the lines are painted in neon-green and his life, my life, and the lives of his hypothetical unborn baby grandchildren were hanging in the balance!!! He is the worst car-parking human being that I have ever encountered. When I am meeting him somewhere, some public place, and I want to know if he is already there as I pull up... I don't need to call. I don't even need to know which car he is driving on that particular day. All that I need to do is look for the break in the pattern of neatly parked cars. That is- where exactly does the pattern of cars parking at, let's just say, a 75 degree angle to the road BEGIN.
Here's a story. So today we are pulling into Kingston, TN after a 6 hour drive from Memphis. We are coming to see my younger cousin graduate from high school. My parents decide to stop at the first liquor store in town to pick up a few bottles of wine for our family. Now, this is a small town... the liquor store parking lot is small (only 2 spaces) and not far off of the main road. The two spaces are right in front of the store and BOTH are vacant. How simple could it be? So what does he do... he pulls into the parking lot and parks HORIZONTALLY across BOTH spaces! Hops out of the car, whistling... goes right on into the store. All the time the store clerk is looking at us like "Are they gonna rob me..." I MUST start taking pictures. :)
Brad's graduation was great. He graduated with high honors. I think that means a GPA between 3.5 and 3.75. He is going to UT and wants to be an engineer. Hope he didn't inherit my father's sense of symmetry.
Just a word or two about my father. Love my dad. Period. We have had some "kinks" in our relationship through the years, mostly due to yours truly being a selfish, spoiled, egotistical, ungrateful brat of an only child. Of course, I can admit that here but not to him. It's a guy thing me thinks.
But this isn't a heavy entry. Just something that really freakin' cracks me up about my father... something that I want to remember. Since I've been old enough to notice or care, my dad has had one particular idiosyncrasy related to driving. Well, more specifically, PARKING. Dad is... well, how can I describe his personality in a few words? He is the quintessential quite "absent-minded professor." He pretty much lives in his own world, except when he is teaching or performing. He is a brilliant musician and choral director. He is truly the most gifted person in a variety of different ways that I have ever known. He IS my dad and I know that many sons or daughters say such things. But he truly is. Since I was small, I have been awed- even slightly intimidated- by the things that he can do.
But dammit... he cannot park a car STRAIGHT if the space is 3 car lengths wide, the lines are painted in neon-green and his life, my life, and the lives of his hypothetical unborn baby grandchildren were hanging in the balance!!! He is the worst car-parking human being that I have ever encountered. When I am meeting him somewhere, some public place, and I want to know if he is already there as I pull up... I don't need to call. I don't even need to know which car he is driving on that particular day. All that I need to do is look for the break in the pattern of neatly parked cars. That is- where exactly does the pattern of cars parking at, let's just say, a 75 degree angle to the road BEGIN.
Here's a story. So today we are pulling into Kingston, TN after a 6 hour drive from Memphis. We are coming to see my younger cousin graduate from high school. My parents decide to stop at the first liquor store in town to pick up a few bottles of wine for our family. Now, this is a small town... the liquor store parking lot is small (only 2 spaces) and not far off of the main road. The two spaces are right in front of the store and BOTH are vacant. How simple could it be? So what does he do... he pulls into the parking lot and parks HORIZONTALLY across BOTH spaces! Hops out of the car, whistling... goes right on into the store. All the time the store clerk is looking at us like "Are they gonna rob me..." I MUST start taking pictures. :)
Brad's graduation was great. He graduated with high honors. I think that means a GPA between 3.5 and 3.75. He is going to UT and wants to be an engineer. Hope he didn't inherit my father's sense of symmetry.