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Father’s Day 2005
Jun. 19th, 2005 08:43 amMy father is a scientist, a cartoonist, a raconteur, an artist, an Apple enthusiast, a landscaper, a handyman, and so much more. He taught physics at Georgia Tech for many years. His specialty is optics and spectroscopy. He has a couple of patents to his name.
He would read to me. When he read Wind in the Willows to me, I remember snuggling up to him as he did different voices for the characters. When we read Fellowship of the Ring we had to stop when Frodo was crossing the ford and the water was crashing towards him because I went to camp for a week. He would always draw these cartoons in the margins of the letters he wrote me at summer camp that made me laugh. One of the most memorable was when they had to buy a new washer while I was away because the old one died (for some reason I thought it exploded but that was not true). He told me that it had a new feature for children who didn’t want to take baths and did a really great silly drawing to illustrate.
Way before we had the official “Take Your Daughter To Work Day,” my siblings and I were allowed to go into work with our parents one day during the summer. It was a really big deal to the kids. I still remember how my father’s labs smelled. I liked listening to him teach a class and watch all these students diligently write down what he was saying. At the time a computer meant a terminal in a lab connected to a mainframe. He would set it up so I could play the Star Trek game or Zork while he dealt with other things he needed to do that day.
My father is a master of the silly face. I had sort of forgotten that until Caroline came along. He made faces at her and she would dissolve into giggles. I can now recall him doing that with my other brothers and sister. He is always good at telling a shaggy dog story and appreciates a well-told tale. He took me to art galleries and museums and pointed out what to look at and for.
I can remember on my 18th birthday my parents took me to this really nice Italian restaurant called La Grotta. My parents are very clever people. When we turned 10, we would have a party one year and went out to dinner with Mom and Dad just us on the other. With 4 kids in the family, time alone with Mom and Dad was a rare thing. On my 18th birthday he started telling me that I was now legally an adult with all the rights and responsibilities and he was going to give me the great secret about adulthood. At this point he pulled a present out of his coat pocket. I opened it up and it was an action figure of Spock from the first Star Trek film. He then told me the secret and I have held it in my heart ever since. And he was right.
He is now enjoying being a grandfather with two little granddaughters. He has sort of retired but still is the editor for an optics publication among other things. He has more time to play with his computer and travel with my mother. He still helps me with my computer problems and is a good sounding board for other ideas or problems. I love him very much.
I am grateful for my father.
He would read to me. When he read Wind in the Willows to me, I remember snuggling up to him as he did different voices for the characters. When we read Fellowship of the Ring we had to stop when Frodo was crossing the ford and the water was crashing towards him because I went to camp for a week. He would always draw these cartoons in the margins of the letters he wrote me at summer camp that made me laugh. One of the most memorable was when they had to buy a new washer while I was away because the old one died (for some reason I thought it exploded but that was not true). He told me that it had a new feature for children who didn’t want to take baths and did a really great silly drawing to illustrate.
Way before we had the official “Take Your Daughter To Work Day,” my siblings and I were allowed to go into work with our parents one day during the summer. It was a really big deal to the kids. I still remember how my father’s labs smelled. I liked listening to him teach a class and watch all these students diligently write down what he was saying. At the time a computer meant a terminal in a lab connected to a mainframe. He would set it up so I could play the Star Trek game or Zork while he dealt with other things he needed to do that day.
My father is a master of the silly face. I had sort of forgotten that until Caroline came along. He made faces at her and she would dissolve into giggles. I can now recall him doing that with my other brothers and sister. He is always good at telling a shaggy dog story and appreciates a well-told tale. He took me to art galleries and museums and pointed out what to look at and for.
I can remember on my 18th birthday my parents took me to this really nice Italian restaurant called La Grotta. My parents are very clever people. When we turned 10, we would have a party one year and went out to dinner with Mom and Dad just us on the other. With 4 kids in the family, time alone with Mom and Dad was a rare thing. On my 18th birthday he started telling me that I was now legally an adult with all the rights and responsibilities and he was going to give me the great secret about adulthood. At this point he pulled a present out of his coat pocket. I opened it up and it was an action figure of Spock from the first Star Trek film. He then told me the secret and I have held it in my heart ever since. And he was right.
He is now enjoying being a grandfather with two little granddaughters. He has sort of retired but still is the editor for an optics publication among other things. He has more time to play with his computer and travel with my mother. He still helps me with my computer problems and is a good sounding board for other ideas or problems. I love him very much.
I am grateful for my father.
