Damnit dad.

Through the good and the bad, I still enjoy the time I spend with my father. Right now it is tinkering with the mustang and planning his Factory Five.

I just turned 57. That's a year older than my Dad was when he died in 1969...

Streetwiseguy wrote: I just turned 57. That's a year older than my Dad was when he died in 1969...

My grandfather's both died in the mid-1960's - 53 years old (heart issues) and 54 years old (cancer). I turn 55 in one week so I feel like I passed some strange milestone.

Of course my dad lived to almost hit 81 so I have time on my hands except for his 5-bypass open heart at age 59 then I have 4 years of bullet dodging to do.

My dad was an aircraft mech and everyday tinkerer. He taught me basic mechanics. Grew up being pushed aside while he did the work. The last time I saw him he was wiring up trailer lights on his truck to tow a boat so we could go fishing. Something I've seen him do numerous times. That time though I had to push him aside and do it for him. We did have a good time fishing the next day. 6 months later I got a call in the middle of the night from my mom that dad had a heart attack and passed away in the hospital, on the operating table while the doc's were trying to put in a pacemaker. That was 20 years ago, he was 66 and had 2 triple bypasses, carotid artery cleaned out, phlebitis, diabetes, smoked a couple packs a day of unfiltered and didn't exercise or eat right. Was overweight. The reason I watch what I eat and exercise regularly. So far, at almost 59 all those have skipped me although I did get warned about pre-diabetic. Diet controlled and now within limits.

My Dad is 89 and in pretty good shape for his age. He was always moderately handy with projects and lives on the west coast of Canada. I'd love to have him closer and getting in the way occasionally. Putting up with your elders' foibles is better than not having them around.

My dad is 85. Over the past 20 years he has been helping me restore a 1951 MGTD. Most recently, he was at my home a few months ago helping me get the fenders on and we started working on the interior. He berkeleyed up some stuff and he was grumpy about me not doing things the way he thought I ought to do them at times, but I enjoyed working with him nonetheless. The man literally wore me out with his energy-- I was tired about 3/4 through the day, but he wanted to keep on going.

He has always been very active-- hunting, fishing, woodworking, traveling. The day he was struck blind, about three weeks ago, he was out fishing in the gulf. I wish like hell he was able to come to my garage and berkeley something up on the TD...

My dad taught me a lot and has been gone now for 5 years. Even though we butted heads a lot I miss him, and my kids miss him.

With all the coaching, helping fix my own and other kid's bikes and cars, and doing a lot of things I probably shouldn't do I have become that dad in the neighborhood. I don't do any social media stuff but I am always ending up on it. My hope is that one day some of that rubs off on my kids and they are pushing me out of the way to fix something because they think I'm screwing it up or not doing it fast enough.

My dad had an idea recently, and my little brother, frustrated with Dad after a few days of hard work together, told him "Dad, that's your worst idea yet"

Its become kind of a joke among us. We love it. Note that my dad has about the same mechanical/carpentry ability as I do (fair to middling) but with less practice in the past 20 years. My little brother is a wiz. Dad and I are cheapskates and try to make do with what we have, my brother is a "get the right tool for the job" kinda guy.

My dad is in his mid 70's and was out for a week late July; I see them once or twice a year. We were playing baseball with the kids when he suddenly pointed to the dead tree in the side yard and said "we could have that down in thirty minutes". My fix was to cut a limb off every couple days and have it cleaned up by end of day which makes me not get burned out but when he said that it seemed like a good idea. He grabbed my axe and started going at it, he heats his house with wood that he harvests so I figured he knew what he was doing but two hours later he has worn me out trying to keep up with him. I'm thinking heart attach is imminent (for me) when the mosquito population discovers us. Over the next three days we spent all the free time chopping that thing up; did I mention that even though there is a W150 and a 3/4 ton Chevy in the barn he insisted on using his Caravan to steady the tree as we chopped it down? He wore me out but thanked me saying he always goes home from vacations flabby and weak from sitting around chatting.