I Knew a Dad
By
Gerry Niskern
I knew a dad who hurried home from work in the summer to take his two little daughters on a hike in the woods before dinner. He would quickly make some jelly sandwiches, grab the ice water bottle from the frig and call “Who’s hiking with me?” and of course, they were always ready. They hiked across the pasture and into the woods to see what the day had in store. Dad examined unusual plants and knew their names. He pointed out animal tracks and how to identify them. He helped the girls across the creek and explained the reasons for the colors in the various rocks. As they climbed up the sloping pasture to head to the house, the hikers plopped down among the wild flowers and ate delicious jelly sandwiches and drank the cool water.
In the winter he took the girls flying down that snow packed meadow on a sled, clinging tightly to his back. On Sunday That dad shoveled a path through deep snow from the house to the garage so the family could go to church. And in church the young father stood on crutches and conducted the service when the traveling pastor wasn’t there. The young dad had an injury that never healed properly. He stood on those crutches and worked at his job as an industrial engineer day after day. When the doctor said he had to go West to a dry climate for surgery or the leg would never heal, he loaded the family into a l941 Chevy and headed to Arizona. He had to be worried and concerned about caring for a family and keeping them safe in a strange part of the country, but he didn’t let them know it. During the long drive West he stopped an picked up young soldiers and sailors on their way home on leave. He loved hearing their stories and all about where their home was. On that long journey, he listened as baritones harmonized with his young daughters while in the back seat while singing all the songs on the Hit Parade.
He stood on those crutches and worked at the Goodyear Aircraft Company during the war. When the war was over and penicillin was released for the private doctor’s use, he was finally cured of the infection that had plagued him since age fourteen. With two healthy legs he explored the desert and the mountains of Arizona and when grandkids came along years later he took them hiking too.
That’s the Dad that I knew.