My dad was a barber, and one of the most popular guys in our home town. I worked in his barber shop most every Saturday from about age 8 until I think I was 15. A big earnings day for me was $5, but those were 1960 dollars!
My dad was a "morning person" who woke up early most days. He started work at 0630 I think. On most days, he worked until 6 PM. Wednesdays he closed at noon and often went trout fishing that afternoon. He worked a lot of hours, but Sunday afternoons, when the weather was decent, we often went over to the family farm bordering the Etowah River and walked from the NE end of the farm to the SW end. On these excursions he taught us the names of the trees and bushes, and occasionally showed us where rabbits had made a little home in the road bank. We picked muscadines and sugar berries, and black berries in season.
My Dad's most memorable trait was telling jokes. As a barber he had a steadily-changing audience. What amazed me most on Saturdays was hearing him tell the same joke 10-12 times, with my Dad laughing just as heartily on the 12th time as he did on the first telling. His customers, knowing his penchant for jokes, kept his supply pretty fresh, and Dad only retold the best ones.
Dad's personality was always upbeat. He was a positive, cheerful person. His first bout with cancer was prostate cancer, and he weathered that storm with hardly a waiver. He eventually contracted bone cancer and was bed-ridden for about three years. His usual jovial attitude perished and he was pleasant, but not near his old jovial self. That is until... the last 3 months of his life. During this period the old happy Dad returned. He seemed to have more energy and recounted to us for the 75th time some of his old favorite jokes. It was a bit strange, but we all were thrilled to see our "old dad" back again.
At the end of the 3-month happy period, our father passed to his eternal home. He went peacefully, and his funeral was a good time to recount our own favorite recollection of dad jokes. And many people did just that.
That unusual 3-month period at the end of Dad's life was a real gift from G^d. Thanks be to Him!
My dad was a "morning person" who woke up early most days. He started work at 0630 I think. On most days, he worked until 6 PM. Wednesdays he closed at noon and often went trout fishing that afternoon. He worked a lot of hours, but Sunday afternoons, when the weather was decent, we often went over to the family farm bordering the Etowah River and walked from the NE end of the farm to the SW end. On these excursions he taught us the names of the trees and bushes, and occasionally showed us where rabbits had made a little home in the road bank. We picked muscadines and sugar berries, and black berries in season.
My Dad's most memorable trait was telling jokes. As a barber he had a steadily-changing audience. What amazed me most on Saturdays was hearing him tell the same joke 10-12 times, with my Dad laughing just as heartily on the 12th time as he did on the first telling. His customers, knowing his penchant for jokes, kept his supply pretty fresh, and Dad only retold the best ones.
Dad's personality was always upbeat. He was a positive, cheerful person. His first bout with cancer was prostate cancer, and he weathered that storm with hardly a waiver. He eventually contracted bone cancer and was bed-ridden for about three years. His usual jovial attitude perished and he was pleasant, but not near his old jovial self. That is until... the last 3 months of his life. During this period the old happy Dad returned. He seemed to have more energy and recounted to us for the 75th time some of his old favorite jokes. It was a bit strange, but we all were thrilled to see our "old dad" back again.
At the end of the 3-month happy period, our father passed to his eternal home. He went peacefully, and his funeral was a good time to recount our own favorite recollection of dad jokes. And many people did just that.
That unusual 3-month period at the end of Dad's life was a real gift from G^d. Thanks be to Him!
my daddy was unable to eat without great difficulty for years. But the last six weeks of his life, he ate with ease, and enjoyed every bite. Isn't God good?
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