Two Sides

There were two sides to my dad. The caring, loving, parent who'd wake up at the crack of dawn too make breakfast then wish you well as you went off to school and the parent that nurtured you back from illness to good health. And then there was the prankster side of my dad. I remember sitting down for dinner one evening with my big sister, Katherine, opening up a box of her favorite meal, sushi. “What’s that?!” She asked as she stuck her nose up to the odd green like substance that looked suspiciously lumpy. “Oh it’s guacamole!” My dad added as he proceeded to “school” us slowly walking out of the dimly lit kitchen telling my sister to simply grab a spoonful and try it! And she did just that. Next thing I knew my sister was screaming as her mouth was on fire! My dad yells out, “it’s wasabi!” And begins roaring with laughter. Dad was a really quiet person growing up as a kid but when it came to watching TV he really got into them! I’d be downstairs playing my video games and next thing you’d know he’d be cheering from upstairs making you come out of your skin as his cheer would echo throughout the house. One Christmas my dad gave us a WII and that really brought up the competition! WII Fit! The game came with a balance board and every game involved the board. You were jumping on and off one moment and leaning side to side the next making sure you didn’t lose your balance while in the process. Dad and I made a fun competition with this by making bets over who would keep the highest score the longest. One of us would run into the room and give a update that we passed the others score and that would push us to quickly run in and try to get even higher. My favorite part of the game was the bubble activity, the object of the game was to lean side to side on the board trying to avoid making your character hit the sharp objects the game threw at you. While playing dad and I would occasionally run in and try to distract each other by slightly nudging each other off the board so that we’d fall and lose. Let me tell you, those moments got intense! In the summer of 2017 my dad and aunt surprised us with our first cruise. The staff was amazing as they remembered my dad needed smoothies and they even went as far as letting us borrow a scooter so that he could get around. The first moment on the cruise was a learning experience. We had to hold onto the seat of the scooter to assure dad had secure control and wouldn’t blast away and knock anyone over. dad’s favorite thing to do was to zoom up behind us in the narrow hallways of the ship where we had to run to avoid being hit. Dad was silly and sweet and anyone that knew him should be very lucky! He will always be missed. 

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