What an awesome thread! Reading all these stories has made me want to research our family tree as I did not get to know either set of my grandparents as they all passed away when I was a young girl. My story is also a little vanilla with a little bit of tear gas mixed in!
I was very blessed to have a father who had an incredible impact on my life - awesome mother too. My dad had a "larger than life" personality - was one of 5 children who grew up in Dallas and his father owned a grocery store. Dad played football for one year at SMU, hurt his knee, and joined the workforce.
When I was seven, my dad moved from Dallas to Amarillo to start an agricultural chemical company. He was a terrific salesman - I guess he had to be because what he sold was tear gas - was used as a grain fumigant - killed all the bugs in the grain. (It has since been taken off the market.) I grew up going to almost every grain elevator in Texas, Oklahoma, Nebraska, Kansas, etc. I later worked for him after college.
My dad was a HUGE Cowboys fan - some of my greatest memories were going to the Cowboys games at the Cotton Bowl and later Texas Stadium. He also loved college football - he would take us to the Cotton Bowl almost every year no matter who was playing and what the weather was like. My mother did not like football but I quickly discovered that going to the games and watching games with my dad was a blast and I wanted to be with him.
Although my dad travelled all the time, he always was major presence in our lives and called us from wherever he was. In fact, my sister and I were recently talking and we both remembered our dad always calling us in college- not our mom. When I got out of college, I moved away to a town to work where I did not know anyone and lived by myself. My dad started calling me daily to check on me and we really started a wonderful friendship that got past the "How much?" He also gave me a subscription to the "Dallas Cowboys Weekly" newspaper - I started reading it so I could carry on a conversation with him! I also had to read the newspaper so I could talk politics with him - his other favorite topic.
When I got married, my husband and I would both have to quickly read the sports page on Saturday mornings so we could carry on a conversation with my dad when he would call later on that morning! One of my favorite possessions to this day is a letter we found that my dad had written to Tex Schramm (Cowboy president/GM) complaining about the then quarterback - Danny White - and Tex's answer back to him. I've framed both letters.
I also learned about work ethic and how to treat people from watching and working with my dad. He worked hard and financially had many ups and downs. I observed how fairly and generously he treated people of various races and backgrounds as they worked for him or came in contact with him. Although my mother had us at church every time the door opened, my father (didn't regularly attend church) was the one who was really living the Christian life. If someone was having a family problem, he would quietly and generously help them.
My father got to see three of the grandchildren before he passed away sixteen years ago on December 24th. No, we are not sad on Christmas now because we know he would kick our butt for ruining his favorite holiday! When looking back at Christmas, I remember when we were in high school and college, he could not stand it on Christmas morning - he would still wake us all up at 6 am to open presents and start the festivities!
He would be so proud of his grandchildren (two of them are playing college sports -one D1 s o c c e r and one D2 baseball) - I know he's watching! Don't know how he is going to like the Cowboys building a new stadium without a hole in the roof - I just picture him up there with Tom Landry and loving every minute of Tony Romo! For his love of politics, if he was here he would be having a blast following everything and stirring up trouble debating about the candidates!
I am writing this to encourage all you dads to develop a relationship with your daughters - you can add so much to their lives! Yes, you can do it as they get older.
Sports is such a great common demoninator in families - I now watch Sportscenter so I can carry on a conversation with my 15 year old quiet son - my dad taught me a lot about communication through sports! I am a lucky gal to have had such great parents - my mother's story another day!