There are times when you feel like you probably have all of the answers that the world can throw at you. I don’t feel like there are problems, only solutions.
For as long as I can remember I have been instilled with the feeling that I should help people who are in need, no matter who they are. I got that from my Daddy.
That feeling of kind of like a super hero, except there are no super powers or anything like that, but that upbringing and seeing him go out of his way to help people. That is where “That Guy” came from.
Now not everyone knows That Guy. There are those that do. And those people are smiling and chuckling right now. You see That Guy shows up with a visit or a phone call or a tool or pretty much anything short of a nuclear missile if someone needs it.
I think actually it may just be That Guy II, because I think Daddy was the original That Guy for many people.
As a trooper, if someone had a problem and didn’t understand what was happening, they would call Daddy or come by. Or if someone needed some other kind of aid, he was there.
So in time, as he got older and then I got older, I remembered how he acted and if someone needed something, then I have tried to be there.
It’s actually quite amusing because if I were to ever write down all of the things That Guy and That Guy II did for people, it would probably be a funny book. Up until the day he died he was still That Guy for people.
We did not have the traditional relationship that most fathers and sons have.
Growing up he was on the road a lot as a state trooper so he was not there for many things I participated in, but I never really had a problem with that because I knew he was out working, doing the good things, helping people. I was and am still good with that.
But we did get chances to watch ball games on TV together. He did take me hunting and fishing, when we could find the time. We had a strong relationship.
Of course as you get older the relationship changes. As I was getting ready to start high school, Daddy took me to the side and said, “I know you are gonna slip around and drink cold beer….I did it when I was your age, and you are going to do it, too. But if I ever catch you on the road when you do, you better hope they go ahead and put you in jail because that might be the only place you will be safe. And let me tell you one more thing, if I ever catch you doing anything more than a cold beer, I will pull your right arm off and beat you to death with it.”
I believed he would do just that until the day that he died.
One particular time some friends and I had drank a few cold beers and went to the old Junior Food store on the north end of town. We were in the store for maybe 10 minutes, and then gone.
This was before the days of cell phones, but before we got back good, he knew about it and there was a good scolding put on me as well as my friends.
I know in 1989 when one of my friends, John Williamson, was killed in a car wreck, that part of him died a little too because he knew how much my friend meant to me.
We did not always see eye to eye on everything. We had different opinions on pretty much everything. He loved to see who could turn left, the most, the fastest (NASCAR) and I saw that as 3 plus hours that was just wasted. But we all have different likes and differences. We always had John Wayne westerns and sports. I think we watched The Searchers over 100 times. It was our movie I guess you could say. And any time it came on, we would watch it.
I made mistakes in life, still do, but he never used those times to throw me away or turn his back on me. He was always there. Of course he would tell me where I screwed up, but the main thing was the fact that he was always there.
I will miss him very much…especially in the fall when football starts and when baseball is in the World Series. Those were times we would sit and watch games together. He was an Auburn fan and we got to watch the Prayer in Jordan-Hare against Georgia together as well as the Miracle Kick-6 TD against Alabama. I know he would laugh if he knew Nick Saban had been given a raise and contract extension “for losing to Auburn.”
Good bye Daddy. I know the Crappie in heaven are in for a rude awakening now.
