Elizabeth Smith
Earlier my husband asked me what my most favorite memory of my dad was. I informed him that I have so many I don’t know how to pick just one. The more i thought of the memories i have of and or with my dad the more they came to mind. Here are just a few of my favorite memories outta many!
1. him telling me about Heaven when I was just a little girl.
2. him eating the cookies and drinking the milk my brothers and I left for Santa 🎅🏻 🍪🥛
3. the Christmas morning I gave him some of my art supplies because I didn’t want to ask mom for money for a gift, it was shortly after dad had his accident. I won’t ever forget that Christmas morning when my dad opened the gift, he acted as though it was his favorite gift telling me, “Beth, I was needing one of these the other day.” That was my favorite Christmas ever. 📐✏️ 👷♂️
4. going fishing and camping with dad. 🎣 🏕️️
5. him making homemade pizza oh it was so good!! 🍕
6. him teaching me how to make his homemade chicken and noodles, his dinner rolls and his cinnamon rolls. I would make his cinnamon rolls often for my husband and sons, especially on Christmas morning (even tho at that time my husband, sons and I didn’t celebrate Christmas. Something I truly regret!) 🥖🥐🍜🍗
7. going to Christmas programs at Chisholm school, id wave to my dad out there in that dark auditorium and my dad would always wave back. 🎄
8. His love for my momma and his children. ❤️👩👩🍼👩🍼👩🍼
9. Him calling me from the hospital telling me how proud he was of me for always answering the phone saying, “KFDI is going to make ne rich!” Lol 🤑💰💰💰💰
10. The way he was so protective of me.
11. His love of nature and the way he loved those thunderstorms and lightning ⛈️ 💨🍃
12. His love of traveling (at night) and hiw he’d speed up over the dips to give his kids butterflies and hear them laughing. (Oh how he loved to hear us laugh). 🚙🛣️️
15. when I graduated from high school the look my dad gave me, he was so proud of me.
16. Him teasing Jared and I about a shotgun wedding.
17. Our heart to heart conversations. 🧍💕🧍🏻♀️
18. Him always giving me a ride on his wheelchair whenever he was in the hospital. I remember mom my brothers and I visiting him in the cafeteria (hospital cafeteria) and dad giving each of us a ride all over the cafeteria. ♿🧑🦽➡️
19. Him saving me from drowning. I was so shocked my dad could swim just having one leg. 🏊
20. When I told my dad he was my hero, he looked at me with a tear and love in his eyes and said, “I’m no hero!” 🦸🏻♂️
21. My dad would often call one of my brothers (David Busch or Paul Busch) or me into the living room to change the TV channel to one of the other two channels. 📺
22. How he would sing along with the radio love songs (and those don’t go breaking my heart songs) to my momma. 💕🎶💙🥰
23. How my dad loved whenever I’d sing Red Sovine’s ‘Daddy’s Girl’ to him. 🥰
24. Our trip to South DaKota on our was up to Mt. Rushmore. We were in our station wagon, our hirn didn’t work, we came upon one of the few tunnels we had to drive through . One particular tunnel had a posted sign tgat read, “Sound hirn before entering.” My dad being the silly man he was stuck his head out the driver window and yelled loudly , “Honk-Honk!!” And he proceeded to drive through. 🚗📯🗻
25. His love of country and western music. 🤠🎶🎻🪗🪕
26. I was singing along to Skeeter Davis’ “End of the World”, my dad said to me, “Beth, you have a beautiful voice , you should be a country singer.”
27. The way he called me ‘Dollie’. (This was the nickname my dad gave me. 🥰 ) 🪆
28. Going fishing with my dad. He’d carried me in one arm because momma put me in a dress and the thorns were cutting my legs so my dad carried me and pulled his boat in the other. When we finally made it to the river he put me in the boat took his oar and pushed off from the shore. He then rowed over to the other side and stared tying strings in the tree, when i asked him why he said so i can remember where we came it. We then spent the day fishing. 🎣🛶🚣♀️
29. The letters and cards he sent me. 📝♥️♠️
30. When he called me just to say, “Beth, I’m so sorry. I love you! You’ll always be my baby girl.” That phone call meant so much to me. 🕊️️✝️️
31. The way he took care of our family and did the best he could to provide for us. My dad was a very hardworking man, a honest and honorable man! 🏡🔨🔧🛠️️🖼️️
32. The day we were at joyland , he wanted to go home but David, Paul and i wanted to stay, so dad took the measuring tape outta his pocket, extended it and bobbing it in front of David’s face saying, “Im tired and wanna go home now.” He and mom decided to let us stay and walk home but we had to be home within a certain amount of time. 📏
33. Him taking my brothers and I to our first indoor theatre to watch a silent movie starring Charlie Chaplin! 🎥🎬🍿🎞️️
35. Going to the drive in theater with him and momma and him sitting on the hood of our station wagon. 📽️️🍿
36. This is not one of my favorite memories but it had a huge impact on my life. Dad had picked up a hitchhiker and given him a ride. Unbeknownst to my dad at the time the man was bleeding and left blood in the backseat of our car, nopw my mother, brothers and i weren’t with dad when he picked the guy up, he told mom about it and she told got upset with dad for doing such a thing telling him he could have harmed my dad or worse. (Dad never did it again and warned my brothers and i against picking up hitchhikers as well as hitchhiking!), my dad was just being a kind man helping a stranger out. : 1:
37. Getting flats on the highway and dad would change them tires out fast just trying to get it done before the highway patrol showed up. 🚔👮♂️🛞
38. Tickling the back of my dad’s neck as he drove. And/or poking him in his ribs!
39. Him teaching my brothers and i how to patch up the intertubes on our bikes and oiling our chains. 🚲🛢️️
40. The way he’d work on the motor on our cars/trucks and got them to running again. 🔧🪛⚙️
41. The way he surprised Jared by fixing the oil leak in Jareds 1975 Chevy Scottsdale 4x4, while jared was at work. 🛻🛢️️
42. The day jared, my dad and i went for a drive through lakeside and Fall River.
43. Jared, my dad and I going “off roading” near LaHunt.
44. The day we all hoped into jareds truck heading for Fall River lake for a swim and maybe an overnight trip. (Dad, David Busch & Paul Busch hopped into the bed of the truck while mom, jared and i were in the cab). Jared lost his keys in the lake and momma found the keys! 🔑 🛻🏊🏊♀️
45. Old wooden bridge. It was years ago we were in mom’s red Chevy station wagon. We were on some old country road when we came upon this wooden bridge. We’ve crossed over this bridge a few times before this one particular day. On this day, dad wasn’t sure about the bridge so before he crossed it he got out of the car to examine the bridge. He got back in the car and decided against crossing the bridge due to him noticing the rotting wooden planks and a few planks missing here and there. So dad backed the car up and decided to go a different direction. A few years ago I asked my mother if she remembered that day, she said she did but couldn’t remember for certain where it was. She said she thought it was somewhere between New Albany and Fall River. She said, “your dad loved taking that way home whenever we left your grandma and grandpa’s place.” She said, “but don’t quote me on that because I’m not sure if that’s where that bridge was for not. I could be remembering wrong. But I do remember that old bridge.” I wish I could remember where the bridge was. I was just a small child and to me that bridge looked huge and high over the river. 🚗🪵🌉
46. Spur of the moment trips. Dad loved going on a spur of the moment family trip/drive. There were a few times we ended up in Colorado! Those random trips came to an end when dad pulled over for the night to sleep in the gas station parking lot, when in the middle of the night he was awakened by a highway patrol officer saying it was illegal for us to sleep there.
47. Playing penny poker with Earl, Dorthy, Smitty & Dolly. I remember thinking my parents were rich whenever we’d take home that can of spare change. ♠️♥️♣️♦️💰
48. Dad playing solitaire with his old worn out cards on the coffee table momma accusing him of “cheating” and he’d reply, I didn’t cheat! ♠️♥️♣️♦️
49. Him letting me win at a game of checkers just to see me excited! ♟️
50. The day he decided to just take a random drive just to show momma, my brothers and I where he went to school (I believe this was in hays Kansas but can’t remember for certain). The disappointment he had on his face when he discovered his school was no longer there. 📚🚌
51. Dad riding the bumper cars with us kids at joy-land and the look of surprise when I bumped into him.
52. Dad trying to teach mom how to drive his Toyota standard car in the parking lot of Giants. 🚘
53. Dad correcting me when mom said mouses. One evening after dinner we were all watching tv. Momma said to dad, “Jackie, I think we got some mouses in the house.” I laying on the floor and being about 7 or 8 years old said to my mom, “momma, it’s mice.” Dad immediately said to me, “oh now wait a minute Beth.” He then said, “when you have more than something what letter do you put at the end of that word?” I replied “S” Dad then said, “so if there’s more than one mouse what do you have?” I thought for a moment and said, “Mouses. But my teacher said it’s mice.” Dad then said to me, “if you have a house that’s one, but if I have two it’s?” I again thought about this question and replied “houses” dad says “that’s right so if you have more than one house you don’t have hice, but houses.” I appreciated that conversation with my dad even to this day! I admire and appreciated how he never allowed anyone to talk down to or at my mother no matter who they were.
54. Dad surprising mom with her Plymouth. Mom, my brothers, grandma and I took the greyhound bus to visit my aunt and cousins in Crystal City Missouri, a few days later dad showed up in momma’s Plymouth. Momma was so excited! 🚗
55. My Dads love of hickory salt and black pepper. I definitely got my love for both from him. He sprinkled that hickory salt on everything and his food basically turned black from all the black pepper he’d sprinkled on his food, especially thisr gried eggs. Yeah, i most definitely got my love of hickory salt and black pepper from my dad!
56. When dad put an old loveseat in the bed of his truck for us kids to sit on. We then take a drive down Pawnee street to cross over K-15. Mom and dad were in the cab of dads truck. David, Paul, Tammy Kay Youngquist and I were sitting in the back on that old loveseat think it was the coolest thing ever and having a ball! We were sitting at the stop light by Leeker’s when the light turn green dad pulled forward and the loveseat went slowly sliding to the tailgate, we all screamed but not a bloody murder kind of scream. 😱 dad looked out his outside mirror and noticed what had happened. Sadly he took the loveseat out of his truck after that. Lol… 😂 oh the sweet memories… thank you dad!!
And finally that big o smile on his face one of the last times I got to see my dad. Oh daddy i loved you more than you believed and now im missing you mote than you could ever have imagined!
I write this with tears in my eyes and a tremendous pain in the depths of my soul. Not caring about grammar or punctuation…
Thank you dad for these cherished memories and so many more.
🥰 🌈🕊️️💙
