Summertime...

One of the latest blog challenges that was posted was to write about summer. Stacy (the gal who comes up with the challenges) posted a bit of the song "It's summertime, and the livin' is easy. Fish are jumpin' and the cotton is high...". This immediately got my attention. The song itself is a very special song to me because it's my daddy's song for me. Yup. He always sang that song to me when I was little to help me fall asleep. When I got into my teen years, I'd love to curl up on the couch in the crook of his muscular arm, and he'd start out humming the song. Before long, he'd be singing the words. Coming from a man who didn't like to talk much, this meant the world to me.

On my 18th birthday, I got a phone call at college. I sat in the dorm hallway and took the call. It was a lady calling me from our local station in Washington, KLIT. She said that my dad wanted to dedicate a song to his little girl on her 18th birthday. What??? Oh, you must have the wrong girl. My dad doesn't do stuff like that. No, she said. This really is for you. She read a letter that he wrote and it told how he recalled all our good times together. He talked about "our song" and how he always loved to sing it to me... If you knew my dad, you would have been as shocked as I was. This is a man that is retired military, now working in construction and garage door installing. The only time he really spoke out was to make a wise crack or use some sarcasm (to hide his "softy" feelings for us). I will never, ever forget this. She sent me a copy of our conversation and the song she played and I cherish it to this day.

I do love summer, everything about it. However, this blog challenge ended up being something else for me. It helped me to remember that just the word Summertime, makes me think of one the most important people in my life and that is my daddy.