Born in 1906, three years after Orville and Wilbur Wright took their first fixed-winged flight, Dad never flew on a commercial plane. However, he told me about being in a chopper (in his late 60s) in Northern Canada when the pilot and he encountered a UFO. “Nobody would believe us, but that thing hung around us long enough for us to have a damned good look at it. Then it just disappeared! In a flash!”
In 1906, the teletype was brand new. And a photograph had just been sent electronically over a distance of 1800 km using a phototelautograph system.
These “leaps” in technology didn’t have much influence over my my dad’s life. For him, the important inventions included better vehicles, farm machinery or more powerful dirt moving equipment. These were especially important to Dad and his crews as they built roads that opened Alberta’s Oil Patch.
To Dad, the telephone was something other people needed. For example, when Mom gave birth to one of us, she’s have to reach Dad, in some isolated Camp, in various ways that included wire, radio and/or “moccasin telegraph”.
In my lifetime I only heard my father’s voice over the telephone once. He never answered a phone, to my knowledge, but surprised me with a call one day – wanting me to fetch mom. In her 80s, Mom had packed up her books , her favourite snacks and prepared herself for a reading holiday. She took a cab to a local motel and wallowed in the silence and solitude she craved.
Dad was stone deaf and refused to wear hearing aids which meant mom had to shout to communicate and if they wanted to share anything on TV, the volume was blaring. It wore on mom and she needed breaks.
Answering the phone, I heard my dad, “Amy! It’s time your mom came home. Go pick her up. She’s been gone long enough.”
I don’t think he heard my response. The line went dead right after I laughed and said, “Dad, you were always away from home and you can’t stand her being away more than FOUR DAYS?!” CLICK!
Imagine having to learn to be together 24/7 after 50 years of marriage! It was not an easy adjustment for either of them. Their lives seemed to be cycles of honeymoon, then some disagreement or clash a few days later that presented a cold front we kids ignored. When Dad returned to work, he’d be gone a few days when mom’s attitude again displayed that he was the man of her heart and soul.
It had been an endearing surprise to discover mom’s new book purchase in their first full year of “togetherness” – “How to Fight Fair in Love and War.” Sub title: ”And not hit below the belt”.
We five kids accepted the eccentricities Mom and Dad presented and we loved each one uniquely. If Dad had still been alive when the cell phone came into our lives, all five of us would have been wise enough to never attempt introducing it to our father.
Today, I’ve rolled out a few “Dad quotes”:
Phone: “Why would I answer that thing? People just mumble on the other end!”.
Answering Machine: “If someone wants me, they know where I’m at.”
Remote Control: “I only need to know how to turn the damned thing off!”
Hearing Aids: “Nobody knows how to make a hearing aid that works!” (The ones he tried, he had immediately taken apart or tried to reshape with his jackknife.)
His Cap with “Northern Metalic” on it: I said, “Dad, your cap has a spelling error! ‘Metalic’ should have 2 ‘l’s.”
Dad’s response: “See? Everybody tries to cut back on everything these days! Cheap buggars!”
A general comment that I’ve carried for years: “The trouble with having too much to do is that evening comes – it’s there and you’re not!”
Well Dad – that’s how I feel. I’m here and you’re not. But I know you’re helping me when I have to tackle those pesky “blue” jobs!
Soul Dipper 