You would think my father's adolescence rules as it applied to his daughters would be
more extreme and overbearing than the fellows, but I can't add any perspective to
that. Remember, I had not had "That Talk" with my dad. I'm positive he had no
daughter-dad talk 5 separate times.
My mother and father had 9 children together. I, number #8 of 9, had the bene t of
having 5 older sisters to help guide me through many of life's hurdles. This would come
in handy later...I was a good listener.
My beautiful sisters were all older than me and I only knew the older guy's in the
neighborhood understood my father had many guns and was not afraid to use them.
That reasoning seemed to help suiters keep their distance from our front door. I don't
recall any harrowing instances. It seems all my sisters met their suiters at school. That
kept any potential confrontations down with our dad. There were a couple of brave
ones.
My two eldest siblings brothers, were actually old enough to be fathers and they were
not around during my toddler/adolescence period. So I relied heavily on my sisters for
savvy, tact and information when it came to girls. The do's & don'ts... Mostly from
observation.
My sisters rarely spoke to me. They viewed me as just a kid, as teens would. Most of
them were in their teens. They spoke at me. But they were all very nice to me and my
younger brother. Very protective. Again, my older brothers were much older and not
around...If they would have been readily available, I know they would have been just as
attentive.
Fathers' Days would come and go. That was the only of cial day of appreciation for my
father. He never expected or received any gifts at Christmas. We were on the receiving
end of that day.
He enjoyed Father's day, even though he knew our trinket gifts were of minimal value.
He treated each gift as if it was made of gold. He would smile often on those days. It
was truly the thought that counted and mattered for him. No gift, no problem. Those
were enjoyable days for everyone.
Those life lessons would inspire me to respond to my kids when asked, "Daddy or
'Man" what do you want for XXXX?". My response has always been, "Peace on
Earth. Good Will Toward Men". They never like that answer, but continue to ask.^