DanO,
My Dad past away 45 years ago. He was 49 years old, and died from Sugar Dieabetes(don't know if I spelled that right)because I could not get him to take care of himself!
My Mom had lift him and he was never the same after that! He started drinking.
I had just married and I and my young wife took him in with us.
But we both had to work, and we come to find him drunk or not at home at all! I would have to go and find him and bring him home! Some times that was hard to do! He had a lot of so called buddies in there who sometimes made it very hard to get him out of the tavern! Anyway this made it almost impossible to control his blood sugar!
He just kept getting worse & worse I finally had to do the thing that breaks my heart!! I had to put him in a rest home, where someone could watch him.
I've had people to ask me why couldn't your wife stay home him? My wife was 19 years old and shy I couldn't put her in this situation
she went thru enough for 1 1/2 years anyway.
He died 3 months before our first baby was born!

I was born on a little 40 acre farm in Missouri on a spot called "Pea Ridge" don't know why they called it that!

My Dad? from the time I can remember I was with him. We did everything together. We were very poor as far as money! But rich in many other ways!
We worked the little farm. Back then we had a team of horses Jiggs & Molly! We plowed with a walk behind plow.Dad and I did everything together We went squirrel & rabbit hunting, also fishing. Not just for fun but out of necessity
Our toilet was a little house out back. You know the one with the Wards or Sears catalogue!
You know us kids used to look at all the ladies underwear in there! You know!
Just for a joke on my sister heard her say she was going to the toilet, I stuck my finger in the bucket of grease in the shop and I rubbed it around the hole! Guess what it wasn't her that went first! Twas my "DAD" wow! Where can I hide! There was a colvert under the road near our home were I hid. But there was a big maple tree in out in our front yard where my dad could always manage to cut off a switch. I thought maybe one day he would have them all cut off out of his reach! Ha!
Guess what? I think where I was hiding was the first place he looked!!
I'll always remember & love my Dad!
Nobby



[This message has been edited by Nobby (edited 07-12-2002).]