Happy Father’s Day, Big Guy!

My dad and I have a unique relationship. Sometime in high school I abandoned the term “Dad” and started calling him “Big Guy”. That was great until he started calling me “Big Girl”. It didn’t quite occur to him that an 18 year old girl wouldn’t like being called ‘big’. Thankfully he’s stopped that nonsense, but he’s still my Big Guy.

A couple of months ago I was visiting the ‘rents and BG busted out his collection of cards and gifts from his friends, my sisters, and me. He also produced letters he wrote from Vietnam to his older brother. Those letters opened my eyes. You see, for as much as I enjoy my wit and sarcasm, it didn’t start with my.

My dad is the original.

I posted a little bit about this before, but some fabulously funny things have happened since then. So here’s a “tribute” (if you will) to Big Guy:

~BG doesn’t like to talk on the phone. It’s a safe bet that if he answers the conversation with go something like this:
BG: (answering the phone; he has caller id) “I’m retired. Stop buggin’ me”
Me: “Hey BG. What’s up?”
BG: “Oh, you know. Just takin’ a nap.”
Me: “Did you get to golf this week?”
BG: “No, the weather stinks.”
Me: “Don’t you have foul-weather plans?”
BG: “Listen, do you want to talk to your mother? I’m just about talked out now.”
(And so ends a typical phone call)

~BG considers himself quite the stud (just ask him – he’ll tell ya). He’s also fairly confident that his studliness hasn’t changed over the years. For his recent retirement I had a 40 year old picture of my parents enlarged and I gave it to them. His thank you note? “Thanks for coming…It’s really amazing how little I’ve changed after all of this time”.

~Some of my favorite sayings (compliments of BG):
– “Stick that in your pipe and smoke it”
– “Put a sock in it”
– “Otay, Butwheat” (not his originally, but I picked it up from him)
– “Beans, beans the magical fruit…”

I know there’s so much more that I could say about BG, but it never fails that as soon as you try to make a point about something all of your examples evade you.

But do you get the point here? I have an ability to write, for which I thank my mom, the journalist. I also have a unique voice – smart @ss, if you will – for which I thank BG, the original smart @ss.

And I do thank BG for this. It’s nice to recognize the influences on my character. Of course, it also makes me wonder…am I gonna have to put with this from my kids someday? Oy.

Happy Day, BG! See you at the game!