My dad

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Today I stood in the garage with my dad and in one instant assessed the situation on a number of levels. This is a picture of my youth. I was literally made a tomboy by a man named Tom. My mother put our family through hell and it seemed, growing up, that the safest place was always in the garage. The picture today is different only in that my dad is older, the bird is different, and there isn;t a looming sadness in the house that we are escaping. And so today, while the real Amie helps her dad look for a tool that is lost (ADD must be hereditary), the Amie who sees signs is wondering if the things that he is looking at instead of finding the tool aren't Big G speaking through him trying to tell me something else about some other story far from my dad's mind but somewhere on my mind, one of about 10 ongoing stories. It;s a complicated thing to do, but I manage. And much like in sign see-ing world, my dad thinks I am helpless in the garage and he has to explain everything, but he must know that all the years I sat on the stool and quitely watched him cut pipes and chop wood and change break pads and sand fenders and innumerable other garage activities, I was paying attention the whole time. So today when his hand cramps up ("I think it's my cholesterol medicine I'm taking, our fingers are lubricated by fat and I think the medicine is clearing the cholesterol from my fingers and they cramp up." :D) and I take over with the tire iron and spin off the lug nuts and reach for the proper wrenches and whatnot, I think he quietly beams a little bit. I dunno. Maybe I'm imagining that too, but I think he knows I can hold my own in the garage. All these gifts, both quietly seeing signs (I don't talk to him about that stuff) and knowing how to prep an impact wrench, I learned from a man who is literally a child in a man suit, but at the same time one of the most responsible people I know. Not many people own their home outright on a truck driver's salary. Anyway, weird dad. Even weirder kid. :D I turned out okay though. He had a lot to do with that.

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Comments

His wallet is full of club cards. Pep Boys has one. Napa has one. Autozone has one. Albertson's has one. He saves them all.
 

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CrystalGeezer
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