Writer's Workshop-My Dad

I'm participating in Mama Kat's Writer's Workshop this week, due to some recent events, I thought it very appropriate...

3.) What does that tell you about your father? List five products your father used (or uses). Write a longer piece about, at least, one of them.

Five products my dad uses…

1. Total/oatmeal. Dad eats super healthy, and has since I can remember. He used to eat Total cereal every morning, and then the doctor told him there was too much iron? maybe in that, so he switched to plain oatmeal with raisins. Every. single. morning.

2. New Balance running shoes. OK, so he doesn’t use these really anymore. Along with the super healthy eating came daily vigorous exercise. It used to be running. Then his feet started bothering him, and his hip, so he had to give that up for the Stairmaster and elliptical machine and swimming. Which he doesn’t enjoy nearly as much, but he wants to stay healthy. And he does it every. single. morning.

3. Aspirin/saw palmetto/multi-vitamin. Again, healthy living. He takes an aspirin every. single. day because that is what the doctor told him to do. Same with the saw palmetto…prostate health. And duh on the multi-vitamin.

4. Ziebart. Yeah…the rust-proofing company. He buys a new truck about when it is absolutely necessary (when one is totaled or deemed un-drivable by Toyota), and the first stop is always Ziebart for rust-proofing. And if his beautiful truck gets dented?? Well…you fix it, otherwise it might rust.

5. Overnight bag. Dad’s a pilot, so he has a bag that he uses when he needs to be gone overnight. It’s a black, leather one that he got from Purdue. Because why pay for something when you got a perfectly good one for free???

It wasn’t hard for me to come up with this list. My dad was raised by parents who lived through the Depression, so you take care of what you have, don’t buy something new unless you absolutely need it, and did I mention take care of what you have?? When his truck was taken from him by Toyota, he found a way to retro-fit his old camper top to the new truck. And when he accidentally lowered the garage door onto said camper top, he was sooo upset because he “lowered the value of it.” (Umm…dad? Probably not worth much before it was dented. I mean, it was like, a jillion years old!)

And while flying is dad’s career, it also has defined his life. He adjusted his lifestyle to accommodate the healthy food and made time for exercise because he loves flying, and wanted to make sure no one ever had an excuse to tell him that he was not allowed to fly. He has had to change plans hundreds of times because something at work came up, and he had to fly. I know lots of other kids’ dads have had the same thing…can’t make a recital/game/play because of work. It happens, and especially in that generation, you work because you need to support your family (because people haven’t always been so lucky to have a job and be able to do so) and so you make it at the top of your list. People rarely work for the same company for 42 years anymore, but my dad has. When retirement calls, whether sooner or later, I know dad will be fine. Yes, he’ll miss flying. But give him his oatmeal and his exercise and his multi-vitamin, and he can get in his Ziebart-ed truck to go golfing. If he’s lucky, he’ll be able to pack his overnight bag to try out a new course.