My Father Gary

Dad on a pony at 5 years old

I have been wanting to write about my dad for sometime, I just needed to find some of my favorite pictures of him. First off, forgive me for being a little technically challenged... when I scan the pictures I have no idea how to crop them... oh my.

This first picture is when my dad was only 5 years old and he had his picture taken on a pony... apparently this was something people did in the era my dad was born.  He was born in 1940, I don't know how long after he was born that my grandparents separated and then divorced because no one ever really talked about when it all took place.  Anyhow my dad was raised by a single parent, he did see his dad often as my grandfather was really into camping, skating, boating, swimming... on and on and he would take my dad out on many of these excursions.

My dad had huge dreams, he wanted to be a movie star and he set out to cross Canada by hitch hiking and working along the way... he told me it was one of the best times of his life, traveling to so many places and seeing this beautiful country of ours. When he had saved enough money in one place, he would just get up and go to the next place... He made his way down through Washington and Oregon, on his way to California so that he could get to Hollywood.  He definitely had the looks, believe me, these pictures don't do justice to show how extremely handsome he was... My dad was a young father, he was only 18 when my sister Kimmy was born, so he was always younger than most of my friends dads.

We always thought he was the cool dad, the in style dad... he wasn't frumpy, he was forever taking us camping, snowmobiling, boating. skating, sliding and swimming to name a few.  He wasn't big on being involved with us otherwise except when it came to doing outdoor activities.  As children we totally loved this time with him, we would always have fun... it was a great way to get time away from Ruth (ex psycho step mother).

 My dad in front of a big rig that he drove

While we were growing up, my dad drove everything and anything for a living, he drove a taxi, a big rig, a tow truck... not to mention the items he drove for fun, a snowmobile, boat, motorbike, dune buggy... etc. I have to say that there are only two people that I have driven in a car with that I felt completely comfortable and at ease, one was my dad the other is David. Both of them are calm and alert drivers, something not everyone is, I love how relaxed both of them are while driving but always paying attention.

My dad died in 2004 from heart failure.. he had a heart attack in 1995 and had to have a defibrillator put in to zap his heart back to start if it ever got out of rhythm... I had a couple of really scary times with him, once when I married Andrey and my dad was dancing the Jitterbug (he was quite the dancer... he even danced in New York City), anyhow, he ended up having to go to emergency due to the dancing... that put an end to the festivities at my wedding... the other time was a year after I was married, I was pregnant but ended up miscarrying... he rushed me to the hospital in the nick of time.  I had to be rushed into emergency surgery, this stress caused another issue with his heart. 

My dad had a pretty difficult up bringing, first being raised by a single mom, then having to go to a home for boys (where a priest molested him), to being a young father who then lost his daughter Kimberly (our sister) in the fire. He had many tragic events happen to him over his life time but he never stopped dreaming big dreams.  We used to joke around that dad was such a big dreamer but as I got older and talked to him, I realized he lived a great deal of his dreams.  Most of us never get to travel all over North America, he saw most of it and worked in many of the States and Canada, he was never settled... always thinking of the next thing he wanted to do.

Although I always thought he was so cool, I now think he was like a teenager that never grew up... It was great to have him as that sort of dad as he was fun... however; fun is good but there are times you have to be involved in the adult world.  He was terrible at making decisions, he either took forever to make them or he was rash and went for them without any thought... either way they were rarely good ones. He was happy though, he followed his heart and from all that he told me, he felt like he had lived his life to the fullest.

Of course my dad never made it to Hollywood as he met my mom in Oregon and the rest as they say is history.

Two of my favorite pictures of my dad and my sister when we were little

I cherish my past, I accept my present and I dream for my future ♥