I was laying in bed the other night and for some strange reason a thought of candy popped into my head, actually no thats not at all surprising, it was a thought of a special candy that is surprising. When I was a little girl and we used to go on car trips my dad used to buy me these lollies to keep me entertained , they are like the inside bit of the life saver and were musk flavoured. Maybe his theory was if he bought me something with lots of pieces it would keep me entertained without bothering him for a while (pretty sure I was a high maintenance annoying kid). It was a smell or a memory that sent me tumbling down the well into thoughts of my dad.
This is my parents in 1985, I would have been two years old
My dad passed away when I was 14 from complications of Cirrhosis of the Liver (this is my limited understanding, I have never really asked) and it dawned on me that I have now lived longer without him than I had with him and this was a very sad realisation for me. I tried to cast my mind back to things I remembered about him and I realised that it was getting more difficult with every passing day. I feel sad that not everyone got to meet him and I feel thankful for those that did and get to have these memory along with me. So here are some memories of a man many of you didn't know, but I still think about everyday
- He was an amazing Cook, he used to make whole fish in the oven stuffed with onion and tomato and it was amazing. He was a big fan of seafood
- He used to wear Green Norska deodorant and it had a picture of a water fall on the front of it, I used to love going into the bathroom after his morning shower because it was warm and steamy and it smelt like him
- He was always dressed well and he ironed everything - even his jeans (clearly this didn't rub off on me)
- He loved country and western music and I am sure that he only played Foster and Allan in the car so it would send me and my sister to sleep
- He loved Neil Diamond and I can credit him for still knowing all the words all these years later
- He always had a moustache, once when we were very young he came to pick us up from school and he had had a shave and we didn't recognise him so we walked straight past him
- When we lived in Dongara he used to bring us our lunch to school and it was always something amazing. Normally a meat and salad roll and a piece of cake, it was always fresh and always delicious
- He had a strange snorting kind of laugh and when he laughed you could see it in his eyes
- He could yell VERY loud and if he yelled you stood up and paid attention. He once called for us when we were down the beach from a good couple of hundred meters away and I remember running back so quickly
- He was always on my side, when I was younger I was a bit forgetful and may have eaten a certain part of my dinner and couldn't remember doing so and on remarking that I thought someone had eaten my sausages he yelled at the whole bar to try and get them to own up to who did it (but it had been me all along, my bad)
- He had a great sense of humour, he used to tuck his shirt into his pants and pull them up as high as they would go, brush his bushy eyebrows up and put on a stupid walk when we were in the shops
- He was very tall and very solid and I always felt safe being near him
- He used to call me Turkey or Chook, Turkey was pretty fitting because I am a bit of a turkey
- I have his eyes and sadly his greying hair (thankfully I missed out on the hairy chest). Looking back at photos today I can see the resemblance clearly
I think I may have been a daddies girl
I wonder how my life would be different if he hadn't have passed away, what would he think of the choices that I have made? No doubt he would hate my car and all my tattoos (though he was tattooed as well so really couldn't say anything) but I know that he would still be proud of me because I don't think I turned out to badly.
I have been very very very blessed in my life to have an amazing step dad who has loved me and raised me and put up with my shit from when I was a youngen. On my year 12 graduation he pulled me aside and said something along the lines of "If your dad was here now, I know how proud he would be of you" and to this day its still makes me tear up thinking about it. Thank you Johnny for being amazing and looking after me, I may seem ungrateful and be painful sometimes but really it means more to me than what you will probably ever realise.
Thank you for taking this trip down memory lane with me, the greatest use for your life is to create something this will outlast you and I think I was created just for that reason. May you be resting in peace where ever you are dad, I hope you are proud of me and know how much I love you and miss you.
RIP Grant William Wasley
06 Dec 1958 - 19 Sept 1997
Love and Faithfulness
Miss K
This song was played at his funeral. It was one of his favourites
I got my Love of Kenny from Him
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