Jun 21, 2020

Happy Daddy's Day!


Daddy has been gone now for almost 30 years. Wow, that just hit me that it's been that long!  How can that be and where oh where did the time go?  All I know is he and Mama are missed every single day of my life.

You, if you are blessed to still have your parents never let a minute go by without showing how much you love them. I pray you have a good father.  

I say father here but pish-posh that is not what we call ours here in the south. Daddy is what we call them now and forever! Pronounced like ded dee or dea dee.... depending on the mood. If you want something the latter is drawn out to sound like dea deeeee I need something only you can do. You get my drift.

Today talking about daddy, car shops, racing etc....


Uncle Junior, Charles Miles, and Daddy Carl
Photo Benjie Johnson

I guess I've been around cars my whole life, well the men and their cars. Uncle Junior and his shop, daddy, and his shop, Uncle Cecil, and his shop for race cars and tractors.  He was a farmer. 

Daddy was an auto body repairman and an artist at that.  He did this in a time when you basically made the parts to fit the auto. That took talent.  I'm told he was one of the best. Now you pay a big price for an auto part and someone just places it on the car. 

Times they have certainly changed. My brothers learned trades of their own as well one a machinist, and anything to do with a motor, the other brother can build a car with his bare hands and has made many a race car.  That sadly is no longer in need as in the past. They have found ways to work around that though. 

I have to admit it was fun growing up in and around cars, guys coming out to the house shop always. Yes as a teenage girl you loved the handsome guys that would hang around the shop!  Yes, daddy would say to we girls, "You girls find something better to do and stay away from the shop when people are there!"  Yeah, like we wouldn't be glued to the windows at all times alerting the other sisters of the cute guys coming to the shop! Heck, I'd even go hang out the clothes a lot because it was very close to the shop! That way I could check them out and still be doing my household chores.  On occasion, I would also step out to the shop to ask if anyone would like a hot cup of coffee. That always went well so I did it more than once. lol

I had to add this because I can't leave out the two brothers as young boys/teens they certainly had a hand in making us all crazy with worry and astonishment! They and our neighborhood friends/brothers would put pieces of cars together and race them throughout the neighborhood.

We girls when we heard loud racing motors running would race to get inside to safety (hopefully).  Me being the oldest and family tattletale would run to tell Daddy what they were up too. He of course knew and had the patience of Job with them/us. He'd say well such and such will let me know if they get out of hand. He always had friends on police force and otherwise, that would call him and say, "Carl, you'd better bring the boys on in closer to home before they get into trouble.  He'd stop working get into his truck to bring those boys and half cars back closer to home.

I declare I'll never know how he got one job done around that shop.  He also brought in goats, which we loved and watched them grow up from cute little babies to adults with horns. Horns that would run down the sides of freshly painted automobiles! Goats that would eat everything in sight including his masking tape, paper and sanding paper.  They also thought they could eat Bondo before it hardened.  Good gosh the times we had.

He tried his best to keep us on the straight and narrow and let me tell you he had his hands full. Mama, now she kept him busy as it was!  


Daddy Carl and Mama Dot


Things My Daddy Said

"Be quiet and listen, you'll learn something."
(That could be because there were 5 of us kids and we each had different personalities 
all strong-willed and noisy, waiting to be heard)

"Speak when you are spoken to"

"Use your manners always"

"So think you, so be you."

"Be nice"

"Do unto others like you want them to do unto you"

"Work hard, ain't nobody gonna give you nothing. Work for what you need."
in other words
"Don't be lazy, work for what you need or want."
"Don't sit back and want others to do it for you."

"Don't take (steal) nothing from nobody!"
but
"If somebody needs something you give it to them."

He certainly was an example of that I've seen him many a day do something or give someone something for free. It was his nature and I somewhat inherited some of his traits.
At craft shows Mama told me, "Dolly, you keep giving things away you're not going home with enough money to even buy supplies." She was right you know...guess I did inherit some of his traits.

"Always do the right thing"


He was one hard-working man and we were glad to have him working in the yard close by just in case he was needed.  

Rarely did he get to sit down to a meal or rest without someone calling or coming in at that time. Customers became friends and not just to him, but us as well. 

Mama was always there to cook and it was nothing to have strange men sitting at the dinner table at any time. We thought that was normal. She was a congenial hostess always and always with a smile on her face. 

Happy Father's Day to the man who sat in my bedroom window gun in hand watching out for intruders. I mean he sat all night one night to watch for me.  We did have a lot of intruders and break-ins when we first built and moved into the house. 

One night I woke to see three men standing over him.  We didn't lock our doors back then no one did. He was sleeping on some lumber in a room end of the house to protect it because things had been stolen at the time. I screamed 'DADDY' and they ran off. Now that was a scary situation. He wasn't alarmed (he kept his gun close by) he just put me back to bed and told me all was fine to go back to sleep. I was little at the time. He told me in later years he knew those men were standing over him and he was waiting to make his move. I'm sure he did. He was a very light sleeper another thing I've inherited from him.

That wasn't the only time break-ins happened around there but with time they eased up they found out daddy was a sharpshooter and wouldn't fail to use if all else failed.  

So to the man who sat up all night even when I'd had a nightmare and was seeing ghosts or I was seeing real people, he was always there to protect.

The man was a hero and wish I'd known how much
I didn't find out how much until after his death. 
I'm so glad I did even though to me he was always my hero!


Happy Father's Day to all fathers out there!



2 comments:

  1. What a great tribute to your dad. Arn’t they just they greatest? I still have my dad but I dread the day he goes ahead of me.
    My daddy will tell ya I was a handful but he will also tell you I was a good girl too.
    I bet your dad did have his hands full with you girls!!! Haha. I can just see you all giggling and peering into the windows. So cute.
    Lisa

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    Replies
    1. I'm so glad you have your dad, make the most of it girl because it is not the same without them. Yeah I talk big and we were silly teenagers but I was good too.
      Spent most of my time taking friends home who needed a driver, maybe because I was the oldest who knows. Yeah daddy had a time working with we girls looking
      and the boys taking the old cars and racing them throughout the neighborhood. I don't know how he ever got a day's work in in all those years. I'll tell you I really don't ..LOL
      Dolly

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