Dadisms...

Dadism:  "Have I ever told you girls about the time..."

I can't tell you how many times my dad started a story like that.  And it always involved some trouble  he and his buddies got into growing up.  Since dad was an Army brat, he and his family traveled and lived all over the world... to include Germany, Hawaii, and Japan.  They'd just moved to Japan when a little girl accidentally dropped a metal bar on top of my father's right hand, permanently severing the tips of each finger off on that hand.  He said he was so disoriented, in pain, and in shock (not to mention brand-new to the country and post), it took forever for him to find the right house.  When he finally found his mother, the doctors were afraid he was going to die because he'd lost that much blood.  Then there was the time he broke his collar bone.  And the time he broke his arm.  And his nose... a couple of times.  He was always climbing, falling, or getting into something.  Dad said as soon as he woke up in the morning, he left the house and returned only when he had to.

Although the quality of these pictures is poor (they're photographs of photographs), there is no mistaking how much James and Peter look like my father I think!

Tell me that doesn't look like
Peter sitting on those steps!

Diane, Grandma Billie, Great-Grandma Henrietta,
Great-Grandpa Eugene, Dolores, and James...
I mean, my dad.  ;)

My father and his sisters...
again, the resemblance to James is uncanny I think!

Diane, Dad (Randy), and Dolores

I could definitely do without any bodily harm, of course, but I love the energy and spunk my dad passed along to our boys!