Memories...

The last couple days I have had constant thought about my Daddy and memories of him. These are just a few I jotted down...

I want to remember...
* that he always ordered his Starbucks by saying "Tall. Black. Bold. Own cup." Every time. I bought him his last Starbucks last week.
*that after making fun of my Birkenstocks he actually tried a pair on and wore them for the last 10 years religiously
*his blue eyes
*that Gigi liked to tickle his toes and often that is the closest she would get to him
*the way his eyes would light up when his grandkids came in the room
*the smile in his heart the day he bought Green Girl, his first airplane and the pride he took in Ruby - his 2nd
*the grief he had when he sold Ruby - he was the saddest I had ever seen him that day
*how he used to play the Fun Machine organ at Christmas time and "our" song that included the lyrics "Please take me home...and LOVE-A me"
*his favorite restaurant was a hole in the wall steakhouse and how it took him so long to figure out how Mom knew he went there. (He smelled like smoke)
*him fishing - or really him driving the boat to take Mama fishing
*how he would always say he wanted something for a gift at Christmas and Birthday time but two days later would buy it himself
*how much he loved Lulu excel at everything
*how much it hurt him when Mo was diagnosed
*the anguish he had to have gone through knowing that Gigi and I were not living in a safe situation
*his collection of golf shirts and travel mugs
*how every meal he would spill something on his shirt
*wearing his matching jammies on Christmas morning
*him reading the Christmas story from the bible when we couldn't go to church on Christmas Eve because of a snowstorm
*him coming to my house with a snowblower that he left here
*the playhouse he built for Gigi that took less time than the 'Mansion in Minutes' dollhouse that he made for Lulu
*that Gigi thinks her Papa can fix ANYTHING
*that when my friends were trying to take down my loft in college (two years in a row!) they had such an awful time because he had tightened everything so tight. He didn't want me to fall.
*that my freshman year my carpet was wall to wall because my Daddy bought it off the roll. He installed it and then took my door off and cut off part of it because the carpet was thick. Shhhh...don't tell anyone at Augie
*watching he and my mom drive away in their green pickup after dropping me off at college. They left abruptly just to get it over with. I watched them drive away from my window sobbing.
*how I would tell anyone that my parents were moving here my sophomore year that they were moving solely because they missed me. In reality it was a move that made sense and was good - and deep down I was excited to have them here. I had a year alone to spread my wings then my comfort came back close - not too close - but in the same city
*how my dad used to drive around. Looking at big houses, looking at cars, looking at Christmas lights. He liked to drive.

This is just the tip of the iceberg and I'm sure I'll have lots of these notes in the coming days and weeks.

If you knew my Daddy, what was your favorite memory of him? What do you not want to forget? What do you want me to know that I might not know?