I’ve been beyond blessed to have the wonderful influence of good fathers in my life. Certainly at the top of the list is Pap, but I’ve also had uncles and family friends who fathered me in various ways. Once I met The Deer Hunter I inherited Papaw Tony’s fatherly influence.
The Deer Hunter has spent this Father’s Day weekend doing what he’s best at: working hard for his family.
He spent Friday and Saturday replacing some of our windows. The first day of work was almost unbearable in the staggering heat wave that settled over our area last week. Thankfully Saturday was much better as far as the weather goes.
After dinner on Saturday, just as he was beginning to see the end of the project, he was called into work to figure out why the jail was out of power.
As I sit and type, he’s still at work and when he comes home he’ll still have a a full day’s hard work waiting on him. Although he gets frustrated sometimes, he soliders along under the strain of whatever is laid on him. Even if he is using a few choice words as he moves forward 🙂
On Father’s Day I’ve always thought about having the best daddy on the face of the earth, at least in my eyes. Before Pap passed I thought about that with a grateful heart each year and I’ve certainly dwelled on it since we lost him in 2016.
In the last year of his life Pap knew the end was nigh, not only did he know it he welcomed it. He was tired of hurting, tired of not being able to do for himself like he always had, and tired of the rapid changes going on in our world. Several times during the last year of his life he’d see something in my face that made him tell me “Tipper I wouldn’t leave you and the rest of them for nothing if it wasn’t for this pain.”
One day he added something to the heartfelt words.
He said “You know one thing that brings me comfort is that Matt (The Deer Hunter) can fix anything that any of you all run into. He’ll know how to take care of anything that comes up and that’s good.”
Pap worked with The Deer Hunter for years and knew that he was the sort of person who isn’t afraid of working hard and can almost always figure out how to make something work when it comes to fixing things.
I’ve always appreciated The Deer Hunter and was proud of him on Father’s Day in relation to him being the girls’ father, but this year I see clearly his fatherly influence affects me too.
When I see his dedication to his family and his willingness to work hard in the worst conditions like heat, cold, rain, and in the down right filthy disgusting situations he encounters at work it makes me want to try harder.
Here’s one of my favorite Father’s Day songs.
Happy Father’s Day to all the fathers who read the Blind Pig and The Acorn. The world is a better place with you in it.
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Happy Father’s Day to every Father out there. Alot Tipper has been going on in my life. 2 of my brothers has been really bad sick.My middle brother bout died but pulled through. He moved in with my oldest brother. 2 1/2 wks ago my oldest brother had a heart attack and had to have open heart surgery. 4 bypass. He is a bad diabetic. He has had kidney failure and on dialysis now. He just got out of critical ICU a couple days ago. I just ask remember him in your prayers. Thank you. ❤️
Gigi-so sorry to hear they’ve been so sick. I’ll be praying for them.
A meaningful tribute to the fathers in your life, Tipper!
I was also blessed with a great dad & Grandad. My other grandpa live away but from all I have heard he, too was a good man.
Have a good summer! Thanks for your blogs!
You were blessed with a good father and grandfather, Tipper. And equally blessed to have found Matt who seems to have done a very good job ‘fathering’ your twin girls.
My Pa was a good father, too. He raised 9 kids, 6 boys and three girls. All but one of them married and stayed married to their original spouses for more than 40 years before death separated them. The one who didn’t marry died young. Three of us were able to get college educations thanks to the GI Bill and willingness to work.
Pa was 30 before his first child was born and 48 when his last came. He worried when the last one came that he wouldn’t see him reach 21 years. He was wrong. He lived to see me 21 years and 4 months old before he died.
Happy Father’s Day to all the dad’s out there. I hope you were able have a red rose in your lapel at church today.
Beautiful testimony! ❤️
Just got home from church and for the special music today a man and wife sang That Silvered Hair Daddy of Mine. For many years my father in law would sing on Fathers Day a song that he wrote about his daddy. It was about dreaming of his daddy and him telling him he would be standing by the gate to see to see him when he made it home. Something was mentioned in the sermon today and that was that no one on earth should be called Farther. We only have one Father and that is God. It was in Matthew 23, I don’t remember the verse.
Happy Father’s Day to Deer Hunter and all the father’s that subscribe to this blog!
Thank you for these words Tipper. Today is a hard Father’s Day for me as my dad is in the hospital in the last days of his life. It happened faster than any of us expected or are prepared for. Yesterday he told me just the same thing that Pap told you those years ago, that he knows my husband can take care of everything, and he has comfort in knowing that. It’s such a difficult time and I thank you for your writings about Pap. He obviously shown very brightly in your eyes just as my daddy does in mine. It has given me great comfort knowing that I am not alone in this journey of grief, and gratitude.
What a wonderful and heartfelt tribute to your father and husband! To all of us who have had or have wonderful fathers, husbands, grandfathers, uncles and anyone else who influenced our lives, we have been very blessed!! When my dad passed in 1997 the song that was chosen to be played at the end of his funeral was “That Silver Haired Daddy of Mine.” Happy Father’s Day to all the guys on the Blind Pig and everywhere else!! Let’s all have a blessed day everyone!
Sometimes it just takes “a few choice words” and it’s an absolute necessity when dealing with stubborn matters and people. It’s mule talk – the only language mules understand.
Wonderful tribute to your husband and father! My dad raised my sister and I by himself for the most part. He is a wonderful man and we celebrated his birthday last Sunday, even though it was on Saturday. He is now 86 years old and even though he has issues that try to set him back, he keeps pushing along and doing what he can each and every day.
Happy Father’s day everyone!!!!
Happy Father’s Day to you daddys out there! I really enjoyed reading all you wrote this morning, Tipper. I’d like to tell you how tough I am, but when I heard Jim Reeves (one of the greatest singers of all time) singing about his silver haired daddy, the thoughts of my grand daddy (who was my daddy) rushed in and then the tears because I surely, surely miss him!!! I always say when I get to heaven, I’m headed first to see Jesus and then I’m heading for grandma and grandpa cause ,Lord, do I miss them more than anything!!!! I’m glad you’re getting new windows! It will be so nice to have quieter, warmer windows! I’ve enjoyed mine so much already and winter hasn’t gotten here just yet. You’ve got a stand up guy in the Deer Hunter! He’s a hard working and hard loving family man!!! Murr man is waiting on a call from Acapulco from our girls. He’s all excited about it…
Happy Father’s Day Deer Hunter
Amen! Let’s lift our men up and help them be the mental, physical and spiritual leaders the Lord has created them to be. Enough tearing down what the good Lord gave us! Thank you Father’s, Uncle’s, Cousins, and all you male role models for stepping in and carrying the world on your shoulders. God bless you Deer Hunter!
Thank you for the post and the song. I always thought that I had the best dad in the world who was the father of 10 children.
Amen!
Pap left this world knowing The Deer Hunter would take care of you, Granny, and the girls just like he has always done. I wish I could tell my daddy Happy Father’s Day and let him know how much I have regretted not telling him I thought he was the best dad in the whole wide world.
Lovely tribute and so true of the good men in our lives!
What a great tribute to Pap, Matt and all the fathers out there!
My siblings and I were blessed to have Daddy for far more than the normal allotment. He lived to 101 and was mentally sharp to the end. Like Matt, he was handy to a remarkable degree. He could fix pretty much anything and usually do it with what he had at hand–and as someone who was a young adult in the depths of the Depression he never threw anything away. With the passage of each year my appreciation of him not only as a father but as an example, a quiet leader in the community, someone who managed to put three children through college despite having minimal financial resources, and a fine human being grows.
I’ll also add that Jim Reeves had a voice as smooth as syrup and soothing as a gentle rain.
Happy Father’s Day to all dads.
Jim Casada
You have wonderful memories of your father and Katie and Corey will have those same memories of their father. Good men like Pap and Matt make for great fathers, husbands and friends. We need more of those men today than ever before. Happy Father’s Day to all those men that deserve being remembered today.
Thank you for those kind words for us Dads, Tipper. Speaking for myself, I have just done in love what was my duty to do. So it doesn’t merit any special notice. But for that reason, notice is appreciated all the more. Your Dad knew how you felt and it was (and is? or will be again?) one of his greatest treasures.
For all the Dads on BP&A, as Tipper already said in other words, in serving your children you served us all, though – as Lincoln said, “the world may little note nor long remember”.
Thanks for sharing. Your support for the Deer Hunter is welcomed and appreciated to him. God Bless you both.
It is strange but I woke up at 5 o’clock this morning after dreaming about my wife and after laying here thinking about her I begin to think about my daddy, my father in law, granddaddy and other good hardworking Christian men that have influenced my life. All of these men were just your common hardworking blue collar job men. I have heard my father in law talk about working 80 hrs or more a week in a cotton mill that had no ac and my daddy talking about it being around 130 degrees in the mill he worked in . The workers were told to take salt tablets. The others I mentioned also worked similar jobs or were farmers working out in the hot fields.I hope my life has reflected some of the values that I learned from them.
Several days last week the feel like temperature was around 105 to 110 degrees in up state South Carolina with hotter days predicted for this week.I told a young teenager this past week about growing up in the 50 and 60’s when very few things had air conditioning, some of the larger stores might have large ceiling fans. When buying a candy bar in a country store you would usually have to look through several ones before finding one that didn’t have worms in it because of the heat. It blew her mind she could not understand living without air conditioning.
I wish all the men a Happy Father’s Day.
The Deer Hunter is the finest father I’ve ever known. He ranks right up there with Pap who was a very fine father.
Thank you. You said it just fine. Jim Reeves’ recording put a sad smile on my face listening & remembering.❤️