Earring 0116 Three and My Dad

These earrings were perfect for my polka dot blouse. They have a bluish-grey hue to them. Funny how you can relate things of your everyday life to your past. When I took off the earrings, I could hear my dad saying tree pearls instead of three pearls. Dad was a full-bloodied Norwegian. No matter how hard he tried, he could not say three. "Th" was a big stopper for his English. When we were kids, we used to try to get him to say three and third. When he said it, it didn't come out like 3 1/3, it came out as tree and a turd. We would laugh and try to get him to say it again. He would put up with us just for so long and then say, "Don't you have something better to do?" That was our dad.

Dad was a nice man. You could tell he was Norwegian even if you didn't hear him speak. He was a tall, blonde hair, blue-eyed man. In photos from when he was younger, he looked like an actor. Quite the hunk in his day. I could see why mom fell for him. Not only was he good looking, he was a skier, an excellent bowler, and good dancer too boot. He was the whole package. Besides all that, he had good ethics, was a hard worker, and treated others with respect. Dad could fix anything. He was also good at pulling our baby teeth out without causing too much pain. He made a good tooth fairy.

Dad had a green thumb. He liked to grow tomatoes, potatoes, strawberries, cucumbers, green beans, and squash. His favorite thing to grow was flowers for mom. Besides having a green thumb, dad could build things. He built a couple of porches. He was creative and made a wood train for my son. Dad could play music by ear and could play different instruments such as violin, harmonica, and accordion. Pretty sure he could play the piano too but I'm not positive on that. The only singing I ever heard from us was in church.

Dad always shaved every day. I never recall any photos of him having any facial hair. He also had a crew cut hair cut or as he called, a heinie. Whenever dad got his heinie, my sister and I would rub the hair on top of his head. It's pretty cool to do that whey you're a kid. Every hair was in the right place. After dad would shave, he would put on aftershave. Then my sister and I would rub our cheeks on his cheek and he'd make funny noises. Dad was good at making funny noises. Think that is where my sister and I got our talent from...we can even make the noise that sandhill cranes make - it must come from dad.

We were pretty lucky to have such a super figure for our dad. All of my brothers, my sister, and I have bits and pieces of our dad that helped form who we are.