A few things I've written about my Dad...
The Daily ACK 6/18/2011 What I learned from my dad
My dad told me so many things. Some a bit late but I got the idea...
1. "Never shoot a Daisy BB Gun with the cocking lever OPEN. (to do so causes the cocking lever to SLAM very hard against your fingers as you hold the BB Gun. It HURTS LIKE HELL! ) I didn't make that mistake twice!
2. "Don't smoke." I almost started during the gulf war but suddenly stopped as I realize the hold it was taking on me.
3. "Purchasing the car is the cheap part, having a car and the upkeep, gas and etc.... are the expensive parts"
4. "if you win while gambling, take your money and WALK AWAY. The house will always beat you in the end"
5. "Always wear a belt" I fought him SO hard about that one as a teenager, but I get it now.
6. "A double Windsor tie knot is always the best". I agree. I'm amazed at the number of TV personalities that CAN'T tie a simple double Windsor knot....
7. "If you abuse your car on a continual basis it will break down on you." Seem my dad had a 1950's Ford that he abused SOOOO bad that he replaced the transmission 3 times! The Ford dealership felt so sorry for him by the 3rd transmission they GAVE IT to him.....ACK.
8. "The first time I (my father) ever went roller skating, I fell 109 times" and he didn't even go out on the rink floor. He fell 109 times while skating outside the rail that separated the rink from the seating benches! When I first went skating with my dad, I was a young boy age 9 or 10 at the time and Dad could skate SO GOOD it was hard to watch. I, on the other hand, had the gracefulness of a 3 legged goose. I realized he wasn't always good at skating.... (he was good with a bolo paddle and a yo-yo and I had so many problems with ANYTHING that required coordination at that young age. [I once broke a light fixture in my parents living room with a YO-YO doing "around the world" and glass went all OVER the place! Mom wasn't too happy with me right about that time! I think I was 10 when that happened] It was like the Governor in Blazing Saddles trying to use a bolo paddle "This thing is WARPED! Why do I always get one that is warped!")
In 1996 we had a roll reversal. Right after his mom died, his older brother was trying to play fast and lose with the wording of her will and make it swing in his (my uncle's) favor. Dad called me up to ask MY advice about the problem!! I'm still taken aback by that fact but I also felt like I had arrived as an adult that MY DAD wanted my advice about anything or that I was qualified to even give someone SO SMART advice at all!
My dad always said about addiction, "Never let anything get in the way of your hobby (addiction)"
I'm certain there are more things he told me but right at the moment I can't think of other pearls of wisdom.
The Daily ACK 5/29/2010 My Dad, My Hero
ACK!
It is hard to see your childhood hero's go down hill. We all had hero's as a child...Policeman or Fireman ...
My hero was and is my Dad, Walter K. Massengill. (he used to say the "K" stood for "Kinky") He is 30 years older than I'm and I can say that I've always looked up to him for as long as I remember. As a small child, I used to go watch him shave. I don't know why I used to do that but without fail, if I was awake and he was getting ready for work, I would go park myself in the bathroom to watch him shave.
For someone who didn't graduate from High School, he is and was the smartest guy I know. No matter what the subject, My dad could talk about that subject. His words of wisdom kept me in school. He always told me and my brother to stay in school because the education he missed kept him from following some of the things he wanted to do with his life, or in his words, "it will make the rest of your life easier." He was most correct. I followed that advice not only in High School but also in college when that opportunity came along in my life. After 4.5 years in college, it was my pleasure to know that my Mom and Dad SAW me walk across the stage to receive my BBA in MIS at the tender age of 43....
I went into the U.S. Air Force because my Dad had been in the U.S. Air Force. Nothing else would do for me but Air Force Blue. My son has now followed in our tracks and serves in the Air Force. He makes me so proud I could bust, but back to my dad.
It always took alot to get him to lose his cool....there were moments he had patience to spare, unless you did something stooped like oh......open the door while the car was still moving OR..hit a puppy dog on the head with a metal toy hammer (both of which I did as a young child!) .....then..boy did I get the "rod" (as the good book calls it), or as my dad used to call it, "the hearing aid"....(his belt).
Right or wrong, good or bad, I deserved the punishment. He was always fair. One time while helping him do some yard work for someone in North Hills (all you folks in Knoxville know where that is), I stepped on the upturned tines of a garden rake and I smacked myself upside the head with a great amount of force...(I was a klutz as a kid) Just as soon as I started crying...My dad was right there. He told me later that he had done the same thing to himself as a child and he knew how bad I was hurting. (It was also on that trip that my dad cut into a Wasp nest while pruning a bush, and that was the fastest I had ever seen him run. He was 48 at the time)
One last word or two while walking down memory lane. When I was about 17 we were driving down 5th Ave in Knoxville, around where the old Blue Circle Restaurant was (Motor Products is on that block now). We got behind a Tractor Trailer truck that was FULL with live chickens....being the absent minded teenager I was at the time, I said "What a foul job!" meaning it would be bad to drive a truck with live chickens on it...my dad groaned and I had no idea what he was groaning about...it was my absentminded pun but he had to tell me before I realized just what I had done....(yeah, I was a little slow on the uptake at the time!)
It is hard to see your childhood hero's go down hill. We all had hero's as a child...Policeman or Fireman ...
My hero was and is my Dad, Walter K. Massengill. (he used to say the "K" stood for "Kinky") He is 30 years older than I'm and I can say that I've always looked up to him for as long as I remember. As a small child, I used to go watch him shave. I don't know why I used to do that but without fail, if I was awake and he was getting ready for work, I would go park myself in the bathroom to watch him shave.
For someone who didn't graduate from High School, he is and was the smartest guy I know. No matter what the subject, My dad could talk about that subject. His words of wisdom kept me in school. He always told me and my brother to stay in school because the education he missed kept him from following some of the things he wanted to do with his life, or in his words, "it will make the rest of your life easier." He was most correct. I followed that advice not only in High School but also in college when that opportunity came along in my life. After 4.5 years in college, it was my pleasure to know that my Mom and Dad SAW me walk across the stage to receive my BBA in MIS at the tender age of 43....
I went into the U.S. Air Force because my Dad had been in the U.S. Air Force. Nothing else would do for me but Air Force Blue. My son has now followed in our tracks and serves in the Air Force. He makes me so proud I could bust, but back to my dad.
It always took alot to get him to lose his cool....there were moments he had patience to spare, unless you did something stooped like oh......open the door while the car was still moving OR..hit a puppy dog on the head with a metal toy hammer (both of which I did as a young child!) .....then..boy did I get the "rod" (as the good book calls it), or as my dad used to call it, "the hearing aid"....(his belt).
Right or wrong, good or bad, I deserved the punishment. He was always fair. One time while helping him do some yard work for someone in North Hills (all you folks in Knoxville know where that is), I stepped on the upturned tines of a garden rake and I smacked myself upside the head with a great amount of force...(I was a klutz as a kid) Just as soon as I started crying...My dad was right there. He told me later that he had done the same thing to himself as a child and he knew how bad I was hurting. (It was also on that trip that my dad cut into a Wasp nest while pruning a bush, and that was the fastest I had ever seen him run. He was 48 at the time)
One last word or two while walking down memory lane. When I was about 17 we were driving down 5th Ave in Knoxville, around where the old Blue Circle Restaurant was (Motor Products is on that block now). We got behind a Tractor Trailer truck that was FULL with live chickens....being the absent minded teenager I was at the time, I said "What a foul job!" meaning it would be bad to drive a truck with live chickens on it...my dad groaned and I had no idea what he was groaning about...it was my absentminded pun but he had to tell me before I realized just what I had done....(yeah, I was a little slow on the uptake at the time!)
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| My Dad and I at his doctors office, 31 May 2013. |
The only reason I was home on 31 May to go to the Doctor with my Dad was because of a call from my brother, Rick, that said "Your Dad isn't doing well and he is in the hospital.".....We started packing bags and I called my Boss to tell him my old Dad wasn't doing so well. I hate taking time off from work but I needed to get to East Tennessee and see what I could do, if anything at all.
One day, that phone call will come and I'll load up the car with dogs, computer, suits, dresses and my lovely wife, Randi and once again head up the road to East Tennessee but life will forever change in a way that I can not reverse it. Only the Good Lord knows when that will be but now matter what date that is, it will be a sad day.
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| My Dad and I, showing off our new haircuts..... |
J.
That is a wonderful tribute to your father. I am certain that he is proud of the man toy have become.
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