Have You Fallen Off Your Garage Today?

A loaded question I know and I hope the answer is a resounding NO…more on that later.

This past Sunday was Father’s Day. I have a long standing tradition for Father’s Day that now transcends the loss of my own father and yesterday was no exception. When I was a kid we got Dad socks, ugly ties and tools as Father’s Day gifts. Mom would buy them, we would wrap them and I used to make handmade cards for him which ultimately he enjoyed way more than the socks.

Move forward…as an adult giving my Father gift items for Father’s Day became much more difficult. By the time I was an adult Dad had 2 each of every tool known to human kind, he didn’t golf, socks were out of the question, and frankly he had turned buying his own ugly ties into an art form. What to do??? What do you give the man who needs nothing?

One Sunday I went to visit my parents. Mom had gone out grocery shopping and when I got to their house, I found my Dad—in his eighties with failing eyesight—on a step ladder trying to clean the gutters on the garage. I took over and locked the ladder with a chain and padlock so Dad wouldn't be tempted to use it again. And so the tradition began. Dad would make a to-do list and I would come over early on Father’s Day, take him out to breakfast and take care of the chores on the list. Weed the rose gardens, edge the grass lines, clean the gutters on the house and garage and whatever else needed tending.

This Father’s Day was no different…except that Dad wasn’t there. I got to Mom’s early and weeded the gardens, edged, and cleaned the gutters. Every time I clean the garage gutters, I do it from the roof because it is faster than dragging the ladder around and climbing up and down. I have never been afraid of heights and one of my nicknames as a child was “Monkey Boy” because back then, I never found a tree I couldn’t climb. What I did notice this time sitting on the roof, cleaning the gutters was all of the stuff running through my mind that would have to be taken care of if I fell off the roof. I did not fall off the roof, but I did think about it…next year I’ll use the ladder…I’m getting too old for this crap.

As an endnote I got a really cool cordless drill driver for Father’s Day this year. Did I need one? No, but that is not the point. This thing has 2400 Ft. pounds of torque, a 2 speed gear box and variable speed trigger arrr, arrr, arrr…power! But I digress. When the boys were young, I would buy what I wanted for Father’s Day and give it to them to wrap and give back to me …thus avoiding socks and ugly ties. Justin called me and asked “What did I get you this year?” I told him, “A cordless drill driver.” He responded, ”Wow, nice! Can I borrow it?”

I’m just saying