For my dad on his 74th birthday
(December 2008)
*Thank You for teaching me to fish
*Thank You for taking us to Disney World - the trip of a lifetime for a ten-year-old
*Thank You for teaching me which curse words were best by forbidding me to say them
*Thank You for teaching me to water ski
*Thank You for letting me drive your snowmobiles
*Thank You for your diced potatoes
*Thank You for trying to make ice cream, once
*Thank You for driving us to PEI every summer so we could spend time with Gramma & Grandpa
*Thank You for subscribing to Sports Illustrated and The Hockey News
all those years
*Thank You for knowing how to tell a joke - I’m terrible at it
*Thank You for bringing home that 8-track - phonograph - Hi-Fi system way back when, it got me started as a rock’n’roll fan
*Thank You for having the good sense to propose to Ma
*Thank You for giving me my first job at the gas station - I know, I hated it, but it gave me the opportunity to see how hard you worked
*Thank You for teaching me to drive at Servomation
*Thank You for not smoking
*Thank You for quitting drinking
*Thank You for having Sandy Ruggles play Santa Claus for us when we were young
*Thank You for doing your part in providing me with a sister and two brothers
*Thank You for always feeding the birds
*Thank You for sharing Papa’s war diary with me
*Thank You for making us do our own laundry when ma got sick - it was long overdue
*Thank You for letting us set up a weight room in the cellar
*Thank You for making me a bruins fan
*Thank You for always being prepared
*Thank You for never complaining about work
*Thank You for earning everything you have
*Thank You for teaching me that it is bad form to call in sick to work when you’re not - I know, that one took awhile
*Thank You for the fireworks displays at Bow Lake
*Thank You for teaching me about loyalty
*Thank You for paying me 10 cents a bag to rake leaves so I could buy baseball cards
*Thank You for driving us through saugus to view the Christmas lights each December
*Thank You for bringing home real Christmas trees
*Thank You for returning with me to Brown’s TV when the owner refused to refund my money for that cheap Walkman and for telling him what a "piece of shit" it was
*Thank You for always preaching safety
*Thank You for being punctual
*Thank You for buying me expensive shoes designed to support my flat feet
*Thank You for taking me to my first Red Sox game on July 12, 1974 - a 7-0 loss to the California Angels
*Thank You for taking me to my first Patriots game on October 12, 1980 - a 34-0 loss to the Miami Dolphins
*Thank You for giving me a last name that the Stoneham police regarded as a get out of jail free card
*Thank You for loaning me the money for my first car - a maroon 1975 Chrysler Cordoba
*Thank You for widening the driveway when we all started driving our own cars
*Thank You for sitting with me at the circus when I was afraid of the lions
*Thank You for warning me of the dangers of credit card debt
*Thank You for taking over the preparation of Thanksgiving dinner after Nana lost her touch
*Thank You for always making more than enough food
*Thank You for teaching me that it’s easier to line a baking pan with tin foil rather than spending half an hour scouring it after
*Thank You for not making me adhere to any strict curfews growing up
*Thank You for installing a pool in our backyard
*Thank You for your homemade Italian salad dressing
*Thank You for liking cats and dogs
*Thank You for letting me play your drums and providing me with rhythm so I could make some sense of them
*Thank You for letting me miss Sunday school so we could go to the Aquarium
*Thank You for staying home from Aunt Shirley’s Christmas Eve party to take care of me when I was sick
*Thank You for not golfing
*Thank You for making sure I got to see Bobby Orr several times during the 1974-75 season, his last great year
*Thank You for always being so generous when it came to my friends, which was the same as being generous to me
*Thank You for holding my hand while crossing busy streets when I was a boy
*Thank You for taking me to the emergency room when I split my chin on the ice
*Thank You for reading my writing
*Thank You for cooking something special for Ma so we could eat more unusual foods
*Thank You for providing me with my own room growing up
*Thank You for all the lobster feeds
*Thank You for not judging me an embarrassment those few times the cops came to the house
*Thank You for letting me live at home until I was ready to leave
*Thank You for filming my football games senior year even though I hardly played, at least my teammates enjoyed them
*Thank You for handing out rolls of quarters to, not just me and John, but to our friends, Hank and Harry, so we could all play the arcade games at Weir’s Beach
*Thank You for welcoming me home and helping take care of me when I got out of the hospital several years ago
*Thank You for stressing the value of honesty
*Thank You for cutting my hair when I was young, and for letting me cut your hair now that I’m not so young
*Thank You for teaching me to root for the underdog - unless they were playing against the Celtics, Bruins, Red Sox, or Patriots
*Thank You for taking all those priceless 8mm home movies back in the 70's
*Thank You for being such a great cook
*Thank You for mellowing with age
*Thank You for doing your best
