Dadisms...

Dadisms:  Go outside.

Growing up, my father was always outside on the weekends.  He washed and waxed Slick, his red Honda Civic, all of the time.  I mean allofthetime.  I'll never forget the time I "mistakenly" drove the car through the drive-through car wash in high school.  Even though I was dressed to go out for the night, my dad made me rewash and wax the car before leaving.  I wish I was kidding.  ;)

Dad also enjoyed doing yard work and teaching us how to sweep the clippings.  "Sweep down wind, Beth.  Honestly.  This should not be this hard.  Let me show you again."  He'd say as he'd grab the broom from my hands and show me again how to briskly sweep the freshly-cut grass off of the side walk and driveway.

My parents' first home, 5911 Rayburn Drive, was a special one.  They brought my sister, Megan, and I home from the hospital to that home.  It sat across the street from our very first friends, Christina and Jillian Fields.  And in the back yard, in a clearing in the woods, my dad built my sister and I a park.  A real park!   It had a wobbly bridge, a swing, a path, a balance beam, and tons of play space for our endless energy.  We loved it.  The only sad part is that we don't have any pictures of it.  I wish we did.  I'd love to look at it again.

At the entrance to the park he built, was a wooden sign Dad had made.  It read:  "I linger yet with nature and learn the language of another world."  Beautiful, isn't it?

This was us, then...