it's father's day tomorrow, and i am really hoping that the agent likes the gifts he will be receiving! the girls made him a cute poster each at daycare - bubble even drew her 'dad' on hers! soooo cute, her drawing is a lot better than the last time i saw her do some!
i'm grateful for dads today. my relationship with my father has had it's ups and downs, of course. we are very alike - both have a love of animals and the outdoors. i can remember being so excited when it was time to do cattle work. i loved doing cattle work with my dad, and usually my grandmother. it involved the horses (my all-time favorite animal), dogs, cattle and lots of swearing! 3 generations, all clashing big time (massive ego overload when dad and granny got together!) yet somehow still managing to work together as a team and get the job done. my dad was amazing on a horse. his mare, philly was half-thoroughbred and soooo energetic. she'd just put her head down and push her way through the scrub to get to the cattle. was extremely quick too! she died about 5 years ago, even though she was young. i cried for a long time after she died, yet when dad told me he had to put my mare jackie down and found my other mare serinna dead in the paddock i didn't cry at all. i guess that's cos i knew they were getting to be fairly long in the teeth anyway.
i don't have many memories of my dad coming away on holidays with us. it was always just my mum the teach, me and my brother the mechanic. and that was ok - made the holidays a lot less stressful and a fair bit cheaper too! as mum says, dad's umbilical cord only reaches the post office in town, which is 15kms from the farm! he doesn't like the heat (that rules out queensland) and hates crowds (that rules out cities!). so my memories of my dad are all based around the farm, which he loves and where i grew up. i miss the farm, a lot. miss the fresh air, open spaces, no noise and the stars!
my dad is great with bubble and bug. bug adores him, and i think it goes back the other way too. last time we were at the farm, all bug wanted was her far. no one else, not even me, and that is amazing! mum says dad is a lot more relaxed with my girls than he was with my brother and i.
my dad taught me how to work with animals (looks a lot harder than it is, and sometimes not! cattle are pigheaded, and sheep really can be stupid). he taught me how to do a job properly, cook a roast complete with baked vegetables, how to drive a manual vehicle, how to deliver a lamb and calf (complete with his arm all the way inside a cow up to his shoulder...have photos of that too! you just pull out and down, go with gravity!) and how to be patient. he once called me his 'soul-mate' which sounds a bit strange, but i think we are in a lot of ways. i don't talk to him as much as my mum, but that's just the way men and women are! he brings me back down to earth, cos of his no-nonsense attitude. he reminds me what's important.
he can be a bit hard to reason with at times! i love him to bits, and i love that i got his skin - i love that i tan just like him when i'm in the sun!
No comments:
Post a Comment