to wish us all a Happy New Year. He had to go before the wishbone was fought over after Thanksgiving dinner and before he could receive the pile of boxed chocolates that came his way every Christmas. My dad couldn’t hang around for one more winter in the sun…he didn’t have even a second more to enjoy the fresh cup of coffee my mom had just brewed. With one breath…poof…he had to go.

I thought I’d blog about resolutions for 2009 with some of them being inspired by my father, but instead, I just want to share a little of him with you.

A blue-eyed blond Scandinavian with long legs, broad shoulders and hands roughly the size of dinner plates. I get my hands from him and an interesting eyebrow trick. We both could raise the left one severely while the right eyebrow didn’t move. We would do that to each other during some of our sillier discussions.

Through his life he was a boxer, a philosopher, a basketball player, a peacemaker later but when his daughters were young a dad who could scare potential boyfriends away with a single glance…or sometimes no acknowledgment at all, a commodities broker and a farmer. Mostly, he was a husband and a father. He had a gift for understanding the markets more than most and was really wise with his money yet he would always say his nine kids were his investment with the most potential.

He was funny without trying and would make awesome faces while telling or reacting to stories.

He let others take the spotlight often and listened so well. Even if he had heard the punch line sixteen times, he would always laugh in support upon hearing it again.

As a young guy while in California he was approached by some Hollywood producers. He turned down the opportunity and told them that actors would have a life that seemed “too fake” for him.

So, yes, he was the real deal. Not a big fan of inane small talk-but gracious enough when someone approached him with it to interact.

He didn’t think people should spend so much of their money on “junk”. And he would classify a lot of things as just that. He would just shake his head and laugh when my mom would come home exhilarated from shopping.

He never seemed rushed. How many people can be so relaxed in a hammock that a cactus wren actually lands on their chest? He did the eyebrow trick later while saying he was just grateful the bird wanted to just rest on him without doing anything else.

He told me there are only a few things in life worth getting upset about. And you deal with those few things when they come up as it’d be senseless to worry about them now.

Instead of saying I was terrible at something ( and oh! The fumbles of mine he witnessed through the years)…he would just say no one should be good at everything.

He was a truth teller, a great dancer, a Bible reader and a non-judging Believer.

He thought that sunshine could fix a lot of things.

He was green before it was politically correct, even hammering out rusty bent nails to re-use and using old milk jugs in extremely creative ways. I suppose that made up for him saying paper towels were one of the world’s greatest inventions. He liked fresh air, wide open spaces and a great steak.

He told me not to worry if I never married as he was a man and he knew first hand what they could be like .

He admired his wife, a pretty view and parents who spent ample time with their children. He found delight in the simplicity of a baby babbling, a comfy chair or a home made cookie.

He just made the world seem cleaner somehow.

“Hey look at you… little mama!?!” he said with surprise as I was knee deep in making lunch for the kids one afternoon. It was as if he was as stunned as I am over how quickly time here rolls by.

He wouldn’t think much of me writing about him. He wasn’t big on good byes…most of my send offs were sealed with a “Behave yourself now ” and a “well… until we meet again”.

When headline news or general conversation turned negative, he would ask who wants to be around someone talking about doom and gloom all day? Anyone can do that. Find others who see the good days ahead. Brighter days are coming…just wait for them.

You know that saying “don’t know what you got…”? I knew.

You would have liked him, maybe even learned a little something from him, but he just couldn’t stay. As his daughter I’d bet he’d want me to wish a Happy New Year. And to remind you brighter days are coming. Even if 08 wasn’t too hard on you, you can always choose to keep looking up, even higher. I can, because of him.

when offered the job of VP:

“Tell him (FDR) he can go to hell!”

– Harry Truman

and not all who are offered the job of VP say “Yes”…

• Daniel Webster (of Webster’s Dictionary fame - no, it was Noah Webster, see Wikipedia) declined the Vice Presidential nomination in 1848 by saying:

“I do not choose to be buried until I am really dead…”

• · And Major General Benjamin F. Butler declined by saying:

“Ask him what he (Abe Lincoln) thinks I have done to serve the punishment [of having to serve as VP]“

• And James Buchanan, who later became president, declined the job of VP by saying:

“I shall not, under any circumstances, consent to the employment of my name in connection with that office…It is the very last office under the Government I would desire to hold.”

• And here’s Harry Truman weighing in on the job of VP which he finally agreed to accept:

“[The VP is] As useful as cow’s fifth teat.”

And historically, the men who actually WON the office of VP…

…well, they haven’t been very happy about it either:

• Here’s how VP Thomas Marshall once summed up his job as VP:

“Once upon a time there was a farmer who had two sons.

One of them ran off to sea.

The other was elected Vice President of the United States.

Nothing was either heard from either of them again.”

• And John Adams, our first VP who went on to become President, once described the job this way:

“My country, in its wisdom, contrived for me the most insignificant office that ever the invention of man contrived or his imagination conceived.”

• And finally let’s take note of how President George H. W. Bush once described the job to his own VP Dan Quayle:

“Well, why don’t you take the word Quayle and insert the word Bush where it appears, and that’s the crap I took for eight years. Wimp. Sycophant. Lapdog. Poop. Lightweight. Boob. Squirrel. A**hole. George Bush.”

ps.  “White House: Confidential - - The Little Book Of Weird Presidential History,”

Is where I found this info…you don’t think I actually did a ton or research do you?  I’m too busy watching SNL skits.

By the end of the day, I’m a wreck. My bloodshot eyes are aching and I notice how much I look like  Nick Nolte’s mugshot when I’m stressed.  I spend hours reminiscing over  baby stories of my 5 year old ( with my 2 year old who seems disinterested as she  shoves sunflower seeds in the fish tank). I am popping  candy corn like  vitamins, finding the toothpaste glob in his sink kinda sweet, smiling gently at the clothes and Spiderman paraphernalia oozing out of his drawers and off his bed and wait ..is that my new comforter under his bed? With a hole cut out of it the size of his body? I AM GONNA…anyway, where was I?.

So I basically mourned all day, but at 3 pm picked up a smiley, bright eyed and bouncy 5 year old who said “school is great!!!”

Whew! What a relief! Now, hopefully no more changes for awhile. I don’t adjust well.

My 2nd grader then joins us and as I kiss the top of his head..he steps back. “Mom…kissing me in public is kinda girly.” Oh yeah…right. I’ll be in the car, with my candy corn.

• You keep more food than beer in the fridge.

• You know all of the people sleeping in your house.

• Breaking the law means doing 40 in a 30 zone.

• Over 90% of the time you spend in front of a computer is for real work.

• You actually eat breakfast foods at breakfast time.

• Your friends marry and divorce instead of get together and break-up.

• A $5 bottle of wine is no longer “pretty good stuff.”

• You get out of bed in the morning even if it’s raining.

• Older relatives feel comfortable telling sex jokes around you.

• Your car insurance goes down and your car payments go up.

• You feed your dog Alpo instead of McDonald”s.

• You no longer take naps from noon to 6 p.m.

“ you just opened a box of half eaten candies with worms in it…what do you say?”

“I love it!…Yummy!” my son replies

“You realize you have gotten 3 of the same thing…what do you say?”

“I always wanted 3 of these. I break toys easily. thanks!” he says.

“you get a shirt. with a  beer stain and a rummage sale $.25 sticker still attached”

“Uhmm..thanks! Fits perfectly!” as he is rolling his eyes now.

“look honey…the neighbors have gifted you a sculpture made out of their dog’s poo…wow, huh?”

“Yeah mom..that will look terrific in your room!”

See? oh…wait a minute.