Catbird

I bought one of these hats. Nope. 

That is definitely a Busch Light. 

My dad was funny, entertaining, and crass, but he was also patient, hardworking, and loving. To many he was The man. The myth. The legend. That's what he was to me, anyway. The man who never raised his voice at me, or at anyone that I remember. He made stern remarks on occasion, but never a shout in anger. I know he could yell because he always cheered for me at every sporting event I ever played in, from Boys Club soccer to high school soccer, no matter how bad we were! He even came to watch me cheer on Friday nights, not just at competitions. He would embarrass me to no end..."Get the ball, Keeley!" I don't know why his cheering bothered me, maybe because it was so loud (or more likely because I was a teenager). Either way, I regret being embarrassed. I regret it because I should have embraced it, not taken it for granted. He was there. He was ALWAYS there. And he was so proud. SO, SO proud of me when I was the only girl playing soccer with the boys at the Boys Club. He was so proud when I started as a freshman on the high school soccer team. He made me trophies and plaques for my accomplishments. "First Female Soccer player at Boys and Girls Club" and "Daddy's Terrific Kid." I don't know if that was an 80's thing or a cool dad thing, but I liked it. I remember being proud of myself for winning a bowling trophy with my dad in the "Bowl for Beverly" tournament. Man, I miss bowling.  

He was also super excited about all of my Red Cross swimming accomplishments. 

One of my favorite Daddy memories could be a Hallmark movie. It was my college graduation from UNC and the Boyers (Daddy, Jill, and Beau) had come up to Chapel Hill for it. They stayed in a hotel in Raleigh for the evening, probably because that was the closest one available. At any rate, I had to be at Kenan Stadium by like 7am or some such nonsensical early hour for a college grad. So, Mom and I, with Brooks, Aunt Debby, and my roommate Tammany headed to the stadium. This was before texting or smart phones so there was no way to relay a message to me that SHOCKING (not shocking) the Boyers were lost. From Raleigh...to Chapel Hill...yep. So, I go to the stadium tired, irritated because I had to go, and sat with my friend Leigh. I had no idea that my dad had finally arrived at the stadium and that he and my little brother Beau were climbing up and around every single bleacher, combing through thousands of seats, calling for me for the entire graduation. Ohhhh, the days before cell phones were HARSH!! I told Mom that when graduation was over, I would meet her back at the car. So I walked alone back across campus to Mom's car. I randomly decided to walk past Morrison Dorm (Motown) on my way back for a little nostalgia. It was a little farther trek, but it was my LAST trek, so...what the hell? As I walked past my freshman dorm and began to journey down the sidewalk towards Mom, I saw them. The Boyers. On the other side of the road. I yelled for them. Daddy! Beau! Jill! And it was seriously like a slow motion reunion. Tears were shed. They thought they had failed. My dad thought he had made it all the way to Chapel Hill only to miss giving his little girl a kiss and hugging her in her Carolina Blue graduation robe. But there we were. Reunited on Manning Drive! Sadly, these were also the days before I had a cell phone OR a digital camera, and ALL of the FILM I took that day was ruined. Couldn't be developed. I called shenanigans and raised MY voice at the woman behind the counter when she told me this bit of information, but the film is gone forever. But no amount of digital film can really do that moment justice anyway. It deserves high definition. Like most of my Daddy memories are. High Definition.

At least Rameses had his picture developed. That's what's really important.