I Remember  Daddy's arms reaching out for me and steadying me as a

   Toddler -

I Remember Daddy teaching me to Roller Skate in the Back Alley of the

   first house we lived in as a family.

I Remember Daddy carefully carrying into the house a precious new bundle

  sent from God as though one misstep my baby brother would break.

I Remember Daddy building me my very own play house with his own hands

  in our backyard and how special it made me feel.

I Remember Daddy helping to put up the swing set for me Brother and me,

  and being pushed so I could learn to fly on my own.

I Remember Daddy playing Santa Claus for the neighbors kids long after we

  knew the Truth so they could feel Special too.

I Remember Daddy helping my Brother make his Cub Car and taking him to

  the Cub Car Rally.

I Remember Daddy taking us to a "Pay by the Inch" Fishing Pond and sitting

  patiently for hours while we tried out best to catch little Trout who weren't really

  hungry, nor very big, but he made the day seem special anyway.

I Remember Daddy taking us out to an Ocean Barge when we were a little older

  and helping us catch what we considered to be really Big Tuna (Bonita) who

  put up a pretty good fight before being hauled in. We would stay out all day,

  and on one occasion we even got to see this HUGH Shark jump up out of the

  water thrilling everyone on board - and scaring us a little bit too!

I Remember Daddy driving the car thru Deserts, over Mountain Passes (some

  more like goat paths!) and thru Forests, stopping more times than he would

  have liked just so we could stop at Tourists Traps, and at the end of the day

  having to drag all our luggage out of the trunk of the car grumbling that we

  had brought enough along for a whole army of people - just to have to replace

  it all back into place the next morning for that days travel.

I Remember Daddy taking us bowling at the local alley and helping to teach us

  to bowl - and when I was a teenager I even beat him at one game!

I Remember Daddy one afternoon and evening when we were surf fishing at

  Refugio Beach Camp -and everyone else had given up because the fish were

  not biting-but he and I stayed and kept fishing, mostly hauling in Sea Weed

  (kelp) and piling it high on the sand-and he finally caught one stray very small

  perch and we whooped with delight-laughing at all that work for one little fish

  caught at sunset. I took it right away back to the Trailer and showed it with great

  triumph to the others in the Family-but they just scoffed and kidded at how small

  it was-so I took it back feeling rejected and terrible-and we thru it back before

  it died-and the two of us just looked at the tall pile of seaweed we had accum-

  ulated and had one last laugh before we returned feeling like we'd had one

  Great time together no matter what anyone else thought.

These are the SOME of the Good Times that I Will Remember Forever with My Daddy!

Written by J. Z. Porter

(c) 2001