Memories of Daddy

As most people have to do in there undergrad experience, I too had to take Public Speaking. My particular instructor was considered one of the hardest, but also one of the most engaging. Every speech was without notes (with the exception of our formal speech) and in fact, the first day of class we had to participate in the bag of death, impromptu speeches. It all culminated at the end in a speech tournament.  Now let me go to my childhood. My parents did their best to make it to elementary award ceremonies and things like that, but they both worked and so it was very difficult for them to attend during the school day. I remember getting called up for honor roll sometimes and being sad that my parents weren't there when other kids had their parents there. But at the end of my high school career, when award ceremonies were in evenings and on Saturdays, I felt like all of a sudden my parents were there in full force. In retrospect, I know it was the timing of things, but I kind of

My car has been crazy about my tires since I got to Texas.  Constantly telling me that the air pressure is low and it's not.  Which is bad because it makes me ignore it.  To the point where I actually blew out my tire! Now I'm obsessively checking the pressure but it still says the tires are low. Reminds me of two stories about my dad.  When I graduated college my dad and I went on a 2 week, 7000 plus mile road trip just the two of us.  On our way between dallas and new Orleans,  that little light went on.  When we got to new Orleans,  it was sunday and we had trouble finding an open tire shop, so we just kept filling the tire with my tiny air compressor that came with the car.  We made it alllll the way to northern Arkansas where we were able to get it fixed and they took the nail out. Another time,  when i was big and pregnant,  my dad and I were driving from downtown LA to Simi down the grade on the 118 and we completely blew out the tire! On the side of a scary curve down

There's always been a running joke for as long as I can remember that on Christmas, us Jews go to the movies and eat Chinese food. I don't know how or when my family actually started doing this together but we definitely did it. The first year Kevin and I got married, 2012, that Christmas we spent with my family. My dad was not a person who usually liked to drive far, he would rather people come to him, but this year he came to Camarillo and we all went to see Les Miserables. I can't remember what we did in 2013 (2014 Kevin and I spent Christmas in Michigan), but Les Miserables definitely stands out in my mind. I loved that movie and the music. Now sometimes I feel every sad song a little bit stronger. Empty chairs at empty tables.

So I recently found out that there is going to be a My Big Fat Greek Wedding 2 and it makes me happy. For your convenience: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt3760922/ When the first one came out, I couldn't believe how much it was like my family. My Nona was still alive and it was something we all quite enjoyed when my father and I watched it together. We asked Nona to say Bundt cake and she said "Butt cake?" And it was hilarious! If you seen the movie you know her father asked her when she was going to get married and told her she was starting to get old at about 15. I had something like that once with my father, although not as extreme. At age 20 I hadn't had a boyfriend in a very long time and one day when we were on our way to my hockey game that Sunday my dad asked me "Rina, when are you going to get a boyfriend?" and it was so like that movie I couldn't help but make fun of him.

Something my father and I did together every week was something I steadily pushed on him overtime. America's Next Top Model. You see.... When the show started, I was in high school and our main TV was in the same room as my dad's office. And slowly, it creeped into his attention to the point where even if he was just flipping channels waiting for a Kings game in an hour or whatever, he would say "Okay" and he'd tolerate my show. Then it turned into something we always watched together. We would critique the photos and judge the contestants week to week. We would get all excited when a new season was starting. Even when I moved to Texas, we'd text each other when we were ready to watch the next episode and we would talk about how we felt about it. Watching the show now, makes me a little sad and happy thinking about my dad. About 9 days after my father's death, it was announced that this season would be the last, and I can't help but find this to be app

I find myself being reminded of my father everyday. Just little memories here and there. As a therapeutic exercise, I want to endeavor to put these memories in words. I want people to read them and remember my dad and enjoy the memories. Some shared, some silly, some serious. I sit at a microscope every day for a lot of my day. And because of this, my posture is sometimes terrible when I am not paying attention. This made me think of using a yoga ball as a desk chair. My father decided to do this once. You might surmise that this was not a brilliant idea for a very large man like my father, but he seemed to like it. I think it wasn't long after my dad had had his gastric bypass and was all into being healthy etc. I don't remember how long the yoga ball survived, but I definitely remember its destruction. You see, my dad collected soda tabs for someone at work. My family drank a lot of sodas, so the tabs were numerous. One of them, did not get into the zip lock bag as intended