Category: #AtoZChallenge 2019

Somehow my best friend and I got onto a topic that brought up how I almost never saw my father cry. And then I was inspired to work on this #AtoZChallenge this year, though it has been a long time since I have done it and it has been quite hard to work through (in a good way). I’m glad I was so inspired and will eventually go through all of this.

Continue reading “#AtoZChallenge The few times my dad cried”

It’s funny sometimes, the random things that you think about when you remember your parents. Trying to come up with more Dad memories for this challenge has been giving me several fun ideas, filling some of the sadness that I still feel with him not being here. One of my favorites is still our bedtime routine.

I was one of those obnoxious kids who learned how to independently read at the age of two. I think it was inevitable because I was constantly surrounded by books. My parents often would tell me about when we lived with my grandparents. My crib was in one of the extra bedrooms that happened to have a lot of books and magazines in it. (My grandparents and great-grandparents were avid readers.) They would come to get me from a nap and find me with a book in my lap, carefully turning the pages, as if I was actually reading it. And then a little later, I started reading my picture books to them.

I still let my parents read me bedtime stories, though. When my sister was really little, they would put her to bed first in her crib. Then I was supposed to go to the bathroom before getting into their bed to read a book before I went to bed in my own room. Sometimes Dad would read to me while I was sitting on the toilet. But I was too content to just sit and talk and would procrastinate. I was a night owl back then and still am.

I had this handmade Raggedy Ann doll that my aunt gave me when I was a baby. Somehow I had managed to pull out all of her curls so that she had a bunch of red spikes instead of loops. And she was practically as tall as I was as a toddler. But I dearly loved her and often brought her into the bathroom with me. The obligatory crocheted baby blanket also accompanied us both.

One night, I suspect Dad was getting tired of waiting for me to stop talking and just go potty. We were just talking, and I was probably singing or something. Dad subtly looked at his watch and saw how late it was getting. He was lying on the floor (we had carpeting even in the bathroom) and waiting. He suddenly grabbed Raggedy Ann, tossed her up in the air, and yelled, “Raggedy Ann, your clock struck again! BOING!”

I thought it was the funniest thing I had ever seen. I started laughing hysterically. And because I was laughing … well, as Dad once told me, “It got the job done.”

Next thing we knew, it became a part of our nightly routine. Sometimes he would throw my blankie up in the air instead. No matter how many times he did it, I always found it absolutely hilarious. Well, except for the one time that he tossed blankie up in the air and it landed in the toilet. Don’t worry, it had been flushed. But I had a hard time sleeping that night while blankie was being thoroughly laundered.

I still remember a few years later when I was too old to have my father sit in the bathroom with me like that anymore. I was disappointed to not have our silly little routine. Sometimes for fun, he would toss a doll or something in the air in my bedroom before tucking me in, but it just wasn’t the same.

I also tried to recapture it with some of the kids I have babysat over the years. They never found it as amusing as I did. I guess it’s just one of those Daddy and Andrea things. And I’m glad I still have those memories.

Catch up on the rest of my 2019 A to Z Challenge here.

See my B posts about Dad from previous challenges:

B is for Books (2012)

To kick off the #AtoZChallenge tribute to my father, I have to talk about him being an artist, because that is so much a part of his legacy. I admit I don’t know much about how my father got involved in art, but I know he was quite the prolific painter. For his beautiful landscapes, he preferred to work in oils, but his abstracts were almost always done in acrylics. I’m going to share photos of some of his work with you today. I apologize for some of the bad shots, but it’s hard to really capture them the right way.

Continue reading “#AtoZChallenge My Father, the Artist”

It’s that time of year again, when bloggers embark upon the challenging task of coming up with one post a day for every day in April (except Sundays). That actually sounds easier than it is, as each day is assigned one letter of the alphabet, and you have to figure out how to craft a post around a word or theme beginning with that letter.

I have done it in the past on some old blogs from long ago. Every year, I think I am going to do it again and then I forget, or just don’t feel inspired. This year, I am kicking myself in the butt to get it done.

The year that I was most active in the #AtoZChallenge was back in 2011. I had signed up a bunch of my old blogs, had the entire alphabet planned out, and started cranking out posts. But then life got in the way. My father had fallen and hit his head and was suffering from a brain bleed. He had brain surgery on April 19th, but eventually succumbed to complications on June 2. I did eventually finish that year, but it took me most of the summer to complete the posts on the one blog. I did revisit the challenge in 2012, this time fully honoring my father.

My mother joined my father this past August 2018. While I am doing okay, it’s still weird to be an adult orphan, especially when most of your friends’ parents are still alive and active. (My parents were older when they had us.) I have 23141982634 thoughts about them both every day and need to get them out of my head. And yet I stop myself from doing so.

That’s why this year, I am determined to revisit my father and his legacy, by honoring him again on this blog. I am writing about my mother on my other site, which you can find over at Andi Explains It All. I think this will be cathartic for me. And if my story can help even one other person in their journey, it will be worth it.

So join me as I share our story. I’ll update this post as I get each letter published. Thank you for joining me in this endeavor.

#AtoZChallenge 2019 Posts:

A – My Father the Artist

B – Dad’s Bedtime Routine: Books and Boing!

C – The few times my dad cried

D – Daddy-Daughter Dates

E –

F –

G –

H –

I –

J –

K –

L –

M –

N –

O –

P –

Q –

R –

S –

T –

U –

V –

W –

X –

Y –

Z –