Happy Birthday, Dad

The speaker is reminiscing about their father on his birthday. They mention how their father passed away and how they took care of their mother after that. The speaker reflects on the lessons they learned from their father, such as the importance of family and making time for loved ones. They also mention their father's work ethic and how they admire him for it. The speaker plans to make chili in honor of their father and hopes to gather with their family on Christmas. They end the conversation by mentioning the many birthdays in their family and their habit of buying gift cards for everyone. Oh, hey dad, how are you doing? Al here. Listen, um, I know you're super busy, you've got a lot going on, uh, I really hate to bother you but, um, well, there's something I've been meaning to tell you and I'm afraid it just can't wait any longer. Happy birthday to you, happy birthday to you, happy birthday dear dad, happy birthday to you. Hey, it's your birthday, gotta be your birthday, you know what I was hoping, you're never growing old. It's your birthday, it's your birthday, it's your birthday, it's your birthday, yeah, yeah. Hello, hello, hello, it's me again, uh, your blender here, um, today, we're going to do a couple today, throw them out there. I should have like a regular time to do it, take notes at least, not today. Um, today, August 16th, it's 2.44 a.m. when I'm starting this, um, today would be my dad's birthday. Um, my dad, he, uh, died back in 1999, my parents were married almost 51 years, and my mom lived on for another 14, 15 months, you know, getting everything in order and teaching us stuff and still teaching us stuff. So, um, yeah, today would be my dad's birthday, and, um, when he passed away, God, you know, did a nice little speaking to me at the casket. He said, turn around, there's my mom, siblings, family, friends, he says, that's your ministry, go for it. And I walked away from there, and, um, you know, did what, you know, took care of my mom in ways that she wanted to, my wife and I did, doctor's appointments, shopping, stuff like that, you know, stuff done around the house, or just keep company. When my mother passed away at the casket again, God said, turn around, siblings and in-laws and family and my wife and kids, he said, there's your ministry, go for it. My wife passes away, hey, um, you know, hey, there's the kid, there's the family, go for it. And lots of friends of hers, and mine too. But today, my dad, God, I talked about my dad, he did 44 years working at DeSoto's and Chrysler's, and he retired back in around 84, 83. And he taught me a lot on how to, you know, start working. I started working at Ford's, he gave me lots of advice. And then also what I learned from my dad is make time for family. You know, there's people that are working there where I work at, and they're working, they'll work seven days if they can, and many do. And the problem with that is those little kids that used to call you daddy and mommy, they now want nothing to do with you. And they stay in the room or they hang out with their friends, and you know nothing. So you miss out on a lot of important things in your life. And spending time with them is impossible, not impossible, but it's important. And that's what my dad taught me. And, you know, to take care of others. And to, I didn't see him, I saw him shed a little tear over when his mother died, my grandmother. When my oldest sister passed away back in 89, he just went around the house and all the pictures there was of, that my sister was in, he put them face down. And my mom went to go pick it up and he goes, no, don't do that. You know, he's doing his own little kind of mourning kind of thing. You know, I'm sure he confided in somebody, but it wasn't me. Well, I'm running out of siblings, so I'm confiding in you. But yeah, my mom and dad's possessions, I got his pot that he made chili with. So anybody sees that pot, I call it the silver bullet, there's no werewolves anywhere around me as long as I got a pot of chili. So there. Yeah. So usually in honor of my dad, I would make some chili or whatever kind of food he would make. Or just some things he would do, which wasn't much as he got older. Sure, he did things when he was younger. I'm the youngest of seven kids past my sister. And my brother, if you can find him. You know, just, you know, what our dad used to do when they were young. But yeah, my dad also, you know, family was important to him. And he cherished any time that family would get together. And that's what I do. If I can, I was telling a friend of mine who's got six kids, yes, he's beat me by one. And I told him, I says, together your kids are going to grow up to be individuals. And if you can get two of them together, hey, that's cool. Three, all right. You know, that's going to be lots of fun. Four, you might want to put off things because you can get four of your kids together. And in my case, five, I'm stopping everything. I was in an Easter play at church. We had a Good Friday play and an Easter Sunday. And on Saturday was the cast party. I couldn't make it because all five of our kids could make it in one place at one time. And they're like, but you're playing one of the lead roles. It's like, yeah, but it's very rare that all five of my kids get together at one place at one time. And, you know, lives, you know, life goes on. And they have their own lives and jobs and in-laws and other people to go see. So it's no doubt that my wife, she planned 14 months in advance of a Christmas gathering. Fourteen months in advance. She's like, I don't know what your other parents or in-laws are doing this Christmas, but the next one. You tell them next year you're here. If I have to do that, I guess I'll have to do that. And my dad, you know, the family just got so big, we did half Christmas Eve, half Christmas Day at their house. And one day he said, heck with it. He was, you know, he just rented a hall. Not that big a one, but that's what he did. Like, I'm going to get everybody together at one time. You know, so, yeah. So, yeah, the more I work at Ford Motor Company, the more I respect my dad for doing all those years at Chrysler's and coming home. And he didn't bring his work home with him. You know, if it was a bad day at work, I didn't hear about it. Don't know about my siblings. Maybe my mom. You know, but he was just happy to be home. And my mom made the home a place of peace and tranquility for my dad to come home to. And there would be many times I'd see her greet him at the door with a smooch. And then, you know, how was your day? And he would give answers like, fine. And dinner would be on and we would help our mom, you know, make the dinner and stuff. So, you know, what am I going to do this year? Well, I've already made chili for the church picnic. Family? Well, we're going to try to get together on Christmas. We've got to come up with that because, you know, it's getting, it's middle of August. Let's see if we can do what's going on this Christmas. Or do I got to plan 16 months in advance? Anyway, that's it. Happy birthday, dad. Yes, another August birthday. And my family, it's also April. There's a bunch within five days. Yeah, within five. Within six days, there's like nine, 10, 11 birthdays. December, there's a lot of birthdays. I buy gift cards for everybody, you know, along with Christmas. And so that really helps me on the fuel points at Kroger. But then again, the people at Kroger, they think I'm, you know, being scammed. And I'm on the phone with some scammer and I got to buy all these gift cards. Which can be kind of funny with some of the cashiers looking at me. Anywho, I got to go on to the next one. Talk to you soon.