Thank you Daddy.

After the depressing post about my farmer friend going to that big cornfield in the sky, I knew the next post must be on a lighter tone.

And so I’m here to thank my father.

If any words or statements come to my mind when I mention Daddy, it would be “The Iron Rod” (his fav church song) and “All you need is glue and duct tape.”

Daddy fixed everything in our house. Broken whatever. Dryers, cars, brakes, toys, sprinklers, etc. etc. etc. He did it all. I honestly don’t think I ever saw a repairman (yes, in those days, they were all men) come to our house to fix something. Except when he was gone during the war and Mom would call someone for the TV. Those days, TVs were easier to fix.

But everything else, he did.

I thought about that the other day when I found myself trying to fix my Shark Floor Steam cleaner. The tube that transfers the steam to the mop head had fallen off and I was trying to replace it. I worked and worked at this and many times thought I had it beaten. But then on a  test run, it would pop off again. Very frustrating. I was determined to fix it, because I’ve fixed a lot of stuff in the house. Thankfully, Thomas is also a fix-it kind of guy, so with two of us, we even out what gets fixed.

The dryer stopped heating. Heating element went out. I called around, found the part, got on the laptop, searched the O Holy Internet for “replacing heating element,” found a video and step by step, I replaced the heating element. 

Robee has broken several playmobil guys’ legs (due to the fact that he forgets to pick them up before he steps). Out came the Crazy Glue and on went the legs.

The goats hay bin had fallen to the ground. While Daddy was here in November, he helped me lift the bin off the ground (with the help of a jack since I still couldn’t lift) and screw it to the fence and then install braces on the ground for more support. He was in heaven helping me do this. It was all I could do to keep him from digging up a pipe that was cracked by the pond to repair it as well. I didn’t want him having a heart attack.

I would have to say, however, my mantra would be “All you need is Crazy Glue, Electrical Tape, and Gorilla Tape.” Boy, do I love Gorilla Tape. That stuff will stick to anything and will remain stuck until …. whenever.

I often wonder why he always fixed everything. I’m sure I like to fix things because I’m a product of my environment (and being an adoptee, not a product of genetics since bio mom won’t talk about my genetics) and I watched him all my life putter around the yard and house.

I also think it was partly due to the fact that he is a Depression baby and people who lived through the Depression had to learn to make do with what they had. Food, clothes, tools, furniture, everything. You took care of your stuff to make sure it lasted a long time. We’ve become such a throw-away mentality that it’s a shame. We buy a chair or tool or clothes and don’t take care of them because we know we can buy another in a year.

So if I’m a product of my environment and Daddy is a product of his environment, then hopefully my kids will be a product of us. They see us  fixing things and that’s great. I want them to learn that just because you can throw things away doesn’t mean you should.

So thank you Daddy. Life lesson learned.