I miss my dad

You never know when it's going to strike. You are hanging out, minding your own business when all of a sudden an urgent need to ask dad something comes up. Tonight was one of those nights.

You see, I liked my dad. Although we hate to admit it, my dad was my favorite parent. He was easy-going, intelligent, dependable. He had a sense of humor. A dry wit. He was a practical joker. He used to travel for his job and loved to tell us of how he would get on a plane and make up some fantastic story he'd tell to his seat mates. He was a world famous obstetrician on his way to give a talk at an international conference. He was a poker player in Vegas. Somehow, when he told his stories, you were as regaled as I'm sure his traveling companion was.

My dad was wicked good with kids. I never met a kid who didn't like him. I remember once that he got on the roof with a water hose (he must have been cleaning out the gutters) and before you know it, most of the kids in the neighborhood were in a water war with my dad. Just a tip for you. It takes a lot of kids with garbage can lids to take down a man with a 10' advantage and a water hose.

My father used to take me to high school football games when I was only in grade school. I was a bit of a sports nuts as a child. It was "our" time. My dad didn't even seem to mind when I gave a play-by-play replay of every single play he just saw. I'd yank on his shirt and say "Did you see that? That guy just ran up the middle and four guys tried to take him down and he fell on one knee but kept going." My dad had the patience of Job.

Tonight we got to talking about organic chemistry. My father was a chemist.

I've always been curious. I mean EVERYONE hates organic. How did he get beyond that hate?

I miss my dad. There is so much I had left to talk to him about.

Football and chemistry. And probably politics.

My father passed away on April 5, 1989. He was 53 years old.

When I find the person who did this.....watch out!

I have a headcold. A slurply, snotty, drippy, sneezy, tissue-laden, n-dimensional hyperspace of bodily fluids. I blame students. I always blame students. I'm never sick when school is out. Damn them anyway.

I HATE being sick.

First, it makes me draggy. I don't do idle well. Anyone who spends time with me ends up saying something equivalent. Sitting around in bed for hot sex or relaxation is one thing, but when I want to get up and do, I'm ready to go. Colds zap that. So I'm STUCK in bed. And apparently, someone tied lead weights to my elbows. And it doesn't help that the Dowell redneck patrol is out doing target shooting today, so I have Jake (who may or may not have autumn fleas....I'm just saying), jumping on the bed every 10 minutes, climbing all over me, until I get fed up and push him off.

Second, I woke up this morning with no less than 20 used tissues wadded up beside me on the bed. Man, do I feel sexy now.

Third, what is UP with this every time I bend over, water runs out of my nose? Where did that come from? My sinuses appeared clear at the moment, right up until my upper torso got 3 degrees beyond horizontal. Then, LET THE FLOOD GATES OPEN!!!!

Finally, the medicine. They took all the good stuff out of the medicine, but somehow managed to make the part of it that makes you fall asleep even stronger. I was talking to someone online and fell asleep mid-sentence.

This had better be over by Sunday. Sunday is football. And we all know how Daktari feels about tall, dark, and handsome men in very tight shiny pants. They don't call it FantASSy football for nuthing. Yeah, baby!