In the Mood to Remember

I have been in the mood to remember fun things about my Dad. Sometimes it is just really hard and painful to remember, but other times it's just fun. Since this has always seemed to be my outlet for these things, I thought I would share some memories. Here are the first 5 that popped in my head today. Those of you who knew him might enjoy these. Please share funny stories of him that you might have!

**When I was little and would have friends over, he would always ask them their name. They would tell him and then he would say “Harold? Your name is Harold?” They would get so frustrated and repeat their name. He would finally just laugh and say “okay, have fun Harold.”

**He LOVED to scare us. I can think of two really funny (now they’re funny) incidents and both involve my cousin Jenn Hall. One night we were jumping on the trampoline (at night) which was out behind our house. We had a wrap around deck, so Dad climbs under the deck at the front of the house and crawls all the way around to the back. Then, he jumps out screaming as loud as he can. I just screamed and fell on the trampoline, but Jenn flew off the trampoline screaming at the top of her lungs and started running away as fast as she could. I think he almost threw up he was laughing so hard. The other incident was when we were about 9 and were in the process of moving onto our land out in the boonies. Jenn and I convinced my parents to let us sleep in the trailer out there all alone. We couldn’t believe they let us! We were doing fine and having fun playing when we heard a knock at the door. Jenn falls to the floor in a panic (Jenn, you were a chicken!) and I was scared, but still (stupidly) just walked to the door. I didn’t see anyone. This happened about 3 times. I was starting to panic too. Finally the last time I peeked out I could see my mom hiding by the porch. Apparently Dad would knock and then jump off the porch. They were watching us through the window! Mom finally felt bad enough that she let us see her. Needless to say, we went home with them. Dad said what he really wanted to do was to climb through one of the back bedroom windows with a white sheet on and come running down the hall. I think we would have just fallen over dead! Thankfully, Mom was with him and wouldn’t let him be that mean.

**While driving in the car, he loved to lean over and wave at no one. Then, he would crack up when you looked to see who he was waving at. People usually only fell for it once. Jamie (April’s sis) always fell for it, which just egged him on!

**Another car thing of his was to ask you if you knew how many people were dead in that cemetery. The response was usually a number like 250, or something. He would then reply “all of them.” The next time you were with him, he’d ask the same question but making sure there was someone alive walking around in the cemetary. Thinking we were on to him, we would say “all of them.” Then, he would reply “no, that person is alive.” Then, he’d do his “hee hee” ornery laugh.

**He was so much fun out on the lake! He loved to get people out on the tube and try to throw them as far and hard as he could. It was SO much fun! Probably the most fun I have ever had was out on the lake with him.

This was fun. Maybe I will do a "remembering him" day each week... I'll have to think about that.