The last thing my dad ever said to me was, “I love you… twice!”
E. C. Gresham - My Dad
He could be silly. He was a great dad.
My dad was a country boy his whole life. He never understood politics or history or the “Big Picture” even though he was a major part of it himself. He served in India during WWII. Before India he was in the artillery.
Before, during and after the war my dad loved only one thing more than his family: radio. As a kid he built a crystal set and tuned in the world. From then on he was hooked. Dad’s life ran parallel to the evolution of American radio.
I’m not nearly as good a father as he was. He was the greatest. I wasn’t a very good son sometimes either. I was too busy with my own life. Too damn busy.
I loved my mom. I was a bit of a momma’s boy when I was a kid. But dad was the rock that was always there. Mom could be mean, cruel sometimes, hateful and abusive on occasion. Dad, though, he was always just Dad. I recall getting whipped by him only once.
When I hit my teen years Dad was always there. He came when I had a flat or ran out of gas. In 1981 when I was working at a little radio station in West Texas (my short-lived radio career) he and Mom drove eight hundred miles to bring us our stuff from storage. He hung around and helped me remodel the studio of the station I worked for.
Dad's Bird feeder
Dad was the dad who was always there. I loved him so much. It wasn’t a month or two before he died that I managed to run out of gas a mile from our house. I made the call. Dad showed up with a gas can.
“Dad, you have to live forever.”
“Why’s that?”
“Who else will I call to bring gas when I run out?”
I as joking with him, of course. We had a great relationship. And of course he didn’t live forever.
Dad was my best friend. I have never been whole since he left. He was the best guy ever to walk this earth.
On the last father’s day of his life I was the worst son I could have been. I got him nothing. I planned to. I started to. I was just too busy. I was too self-absorbed. I called him on Father’s Day and we talked. I told him I loved him. But I procrastinated in sending him something.
Mom said he went to the mail box for a week looking for something from me. I will never, ever forgive myself. I am so ashamed and angry at myself. I do not deserve anything for father’s day.
KTRE Radio - 1950's
Dad and I were close in his last hears, most of the time. We loved each other very much. He knew that and he forgave me for being the world’s biggest ass. He forgave everybody for everything.
Many years ago I put a tribute to him online. The internet was a new idea when I put it together. All these years I’ve kept it online. It’s been off since I shut down my personal website. Today I’m putting it back up.
I was lucky. I had the world’s greatest dad. Click Here to find out all about him.
If you’re a Father, love your kids. If you have a Father, tell him you love him. Do it now. Tomorrow might not come. There may not be another Father’s Day for him or you.
