Thursday, May 26, 2005

Poppa can you hear me?

There’s been a lot of talk of my mom lately, understood.

But very little talk of my dad. My dad passed away when I was 18, my first week in college. I was rushing to be a Kappa Alpha Theta, which was very important to me at the time. I went to visit my dad that week to basically say my goodbyes and I remember having to call my school to find out if I got into my sorority or not. Weird times.

My dad was an inventor. He invented all kinds of things. He was mainly an inventor of games, but he invented all kinds of crazy things.

He invented the game Simon. Yes, it’s true. I’ve asked my mother if I can say that and still be truthful and she said that yes, indeed I can. He invented another game called Downfall that sells overseas, lots of Arabs like Downfall.

But he invented all kinds of things; he invented a cane that people could use to pick up dollar bills if they couldn’t bend over. He created “sun sculptures” where you would use the light and shade to cast shadows on the ground and create a picture. He created some kind of crazy LED thing that you waved back and forth so it would read a message in thin air.

He was a drinker, let’s face it. That was eventually his undoing I suppose, although he had stopped by the time I was of the age of understanding. So I mostly saw my father not drunk, which I’m sure is a blessing.

He and my mom divorced when I was I think 4 or 5 and remained very friendly with each other. My mom loved him a lot, and still to this day will tell us how much she did. I guess the drunk got in the way, as it can sometimes do.

He played games with us, all the time. He and I mostly played Othello. But he had Atari, and new fangled computers. I distinctly remember the computer where you had to attach the actual phone receiver to it.

He listened to talk radio before he went to bed. As far as I know, each one of his children does the same thing.

He had huge long lists of the lottery numbers and crazy formulas to figure out what was coming next.

He believed in natural selection and that the weak (meaning dumb in his eyes) should be the first to go.

He bought great presents for birthdays, the stereos, the TV’s, and once a box of playboys for my gay brother. We’ve never really understood that.

And he fostered my love for the city and walking. He would walk us everywhere; this is what we did on our Sundays with him. We would wander to Oak Street Beach, or Old Town when it was dirty and seedy. We would head to State and Rush where there used to be a crazy arcade, and he would take us to Water Tower, and we’d eat at that McDonalds.

I didn’t know him well, just as I was learning how to know people, he passed away.

But my heart is clear for him, I’ve never hated him, or even disliked him, I forgive him his sins and am proud of his accomplishments.

Hi Daddy!

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