Life With Dad: A "Unique" Man....

I would like to give some background information on my Dad and tell you a little about his life prior to his big "change".  In this blog, I will tell you about what he was like BEFORE the Dementia started to alter his personality.  Dad was the only child born to my grandparents, and he was raised on a farm south of town.  He graduated from high school and continued to farm with his Dad. He has had a few different jobs throughout the years, such as working at a gas station in Barnard for many years.  We were still living on the farm where he was raised, and he also took care of the land for his mother. After a disagreement with his mother, we moved to town and he started working for the city at the Power Plant.  Eventually he retired (Easy Street!!) and enjoyed doing woodworking in the garage.

This is where it all began....the humble beginnings of "Wayne's World".  Dad's garage workshop area became his favorite hangout and people would stop by to shoot the breeze or to order a woodworking project from him.  I am not sure how many projects he has made over the years, but people will tell me that they STILL have some frame or wooden piece that he had made for them.  It was a hobby that he loved to do.

He would make shelves, plaques, clocks, coat racks, and just about anything that was requested....if it could be made out of wood, he could make it. Usually my Mom would then do the painting that was needed.

This is a chair that is still in the kitchen at their house.  Dad made it for people to sit on while they talked on the telephone (even though it drove him crazy for anyone to talk on the phone for more than five minutes).  It has been around for a very long time.

I know that he made several wooden signs for families.  He would accept any challenge when it came to making items out of wood.  It was a hobby that kept him busy and also provided him the chance to visit with people.  Unfortunately, Dad had to give up his woodworking days due to years of cigarette smoking, and then breathing wood dust in the garage.  He was diagnosed with COPD (Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease) and was no longer allowed to work around the wood dust. Dad had stopped smoking several years before, but the damage had already occurred to his lungs.

Before he retired, Dad and Mom enjoyed taking many trips to see the United States.  They would usually go with another couple and would always drive in order to see the country.  He really loved the mountains and national parks.  I believe that they eventually traveled to every state except for Alaska and Hawaii (he did not want to travel by plane).  Another love was that of taking care of the vast lawn on their property....and that included his garden.

Here he is with his son-in-law, Nick, and his son, Jim, standing next to the giant sunflowers that he loved to grow.  He was always amazed at the height that the sunflowers would grow to.  He also tended a garden that produced delicious tomatoes as well.

He was very meticulous about mowing his lawn with his riding mower.  He would not let just anyone drive his prized mower!  Dad was very particular about how to care for the yard, setting a watering schedule, as well as a mowing schedule.  Sadly, that was the last set of keys that he had to relinquish (and not very willingly!).  The other part of his life that Dad loved.....

....his family. Here he is with my sister, Robin.  This picture shows his facial expression before the onset of Dementia.

This one is with his great-grandson, Gavin.  Dad loved to make the little ones laugh and smile.

He also attended many activities for his grandkids.  This was when my son Shayne graduated from Kindergarten.  Dad was always very proud of his grandchildren's accomplishments.  He has always displayed a terrific sense of humor.  He loved to pull practical jokes on people and had many humorous sayings.  One of my classmates was the brunt of his woodworking and joking abilities.....he would make signs out of wood that he had engraved the nickname of this guy on.....and then he would have family members drive by and throw the wooden pieces in this guy's yard (my own kids thought that this was great fun to do....sorry, Rick)!  It was a continual joke cycle between these two.  Dad also enjoyed tormenting the local postal delivery workers....planting a rubber snake or fake spider in his mailbox periodically and sitting on the porch to watch her jump when she opened the box!  There were also many interesting and/or risque pieces in his workshop.  Suffice it to say that one would consider my Dad to be.....to use one of his favorite words...."unique".

This was his last Father's Day celebrated at home.  I wanted to give you a glimpse of what my Dad was like originally.  In the next installment, I will share with you what we noticed and experienced with my Dad before he was placed in the nursing home.  Thank you for coming along on this journey.