Remembering Daddy...

This picture was made six days before Daddy died. I am so thankful for this photo. It captures a favorite memory of Daddy perfectly. He was one of the best story tellers and spinner of yarns, I have ever known.  I would really like to know the questions they asked Daddy. I hope they were good questions that got Daddy's memory to spinning. In the picture, they all seem to be having a good time. I am glad.

When I was a little girl, Mama raised me to tell the truth, to mind and to believe what adults told me.  However, when Mama and Daddy remarried in 1959, I was not ready for the 'Character of J.L.' I loved him beyond measure and when he told me something I believed it. I was so gullible....I still am. My family has a great time at my expense:) Daddy loved to tell me stories. He is smiling right now because he knows what story I am about to tell.

I remember once I got in so much trouble for telling our 4th grade class one of Daddy's tall tales.  We had to tell our class, in a report, where our father's were born and how their lives were different from our lives.  I was so excited to tell his story. When I asked Daddy the question,  he thought for a minute and then he began to tell me how he had been born in Canada in a tribe of Saskatchewan Indians. I was shocked!  How could I not know that. This meant I was half Indian!!  Wait until the kids heard this! I totally forgot about Daddy's parents, Mama Pearl and Papa John. I was focused on the Indians. We talked about this for days. He told me how he lived in a teepee and shot his food when he was 4 years old. (I told you I was gullible) That was awesome. I asked him why he left the Indians? He said he saw Mama and fell in love with her and she refused to live in a teepee.  Next thing you know, I am mad a Mama. I would have loved to live in a teepee. When I shared Daddy's story the teacher called me aside after class and said, "You need to talk to your Daddy again. I have known him all of his life. I think you misunderstood what he said." That was just the beginning of one tall tale after the other. I loved them all. I will miss those stories.

Regardless of how their lives together began, they ended in a wonderful love story. Daddy took excellent care of Mama when she was slowly dying from Alzheimer's. The look on their faces speaks volumes.

One thing for sure is Daddy was one of a kind. He could make me laugh or cry easier than anyone I have ever known. He was a man of many faces. I saw most of them. These are two of the faces I loved best and will miss forever.