Friday, June 17, 2011

Flashback Friday - Donald Leroy Earl




Although my dad is gone, I still remember him often and especially on Father's Day. He was imperfect to say the least, but one of his greatest strengths was giving affection to me. He hugged and kissed me regularly, probably because I went looking for affection first and he was the one parent to always return it. I'm glad for that, because it did help to make up for the great deficits he left in other areas of fathering me.

Occasionally I'll stop and let memories of dad come flooding in. Its good for me to remember the mixed bag that was dad. It gives my heart balance where there's emptiness left from wanting more from him as a father.

My dad was full of goofy humor, and I loved that. We kids got a kick out of his occasional toilet humor, of which my mom disapproved, especially during mealtimes.

Dad was the best hugger.

Dad could draw really cool doodles and caricatures.

Dad chewed a lot of Wrigley’s Spearmint gum, a replacement for a smoking habit he gave up when he was 40 something, I think. I remember he’d often make little shapes with his gum and stick out his tongue so we could admire his work. A few times he created some cool gum wrapper origami, which he gave to me as a little gift. I thought it was so cool.

Dad was very creative. He played a Gibson guitar and sang(off pitch). Dad was a songwriter, and he also wrote poetry, which I didn't find out until I was an adult. These were his God given gifts(all except singing).

Other random memories of dad….his curly perm fro (LOL!), his “plastic” hair, almost nightly trips to Baskin Robbins when his songs hit Billboards Top 100 or Top Ten, guns and tasers in our home, loose change in his basket, his salt n pepper beard, strange stories of St. Louis city cop life, and his own funny or even sad childhood memories.


I thank God for my dad, both the good and the bad. His strengths and especially his weaknesses have helped me be a better parent in the end.

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