Thursday, April 26, 2012

Protector

With Roy P. and Roy E. by chaimann
With Roy P. and Roy E., a photo by chaimann on Flickr.
I was born long before fathers were welcomed into the delivery room. That didn't stop this big guy, though. At six feet, six inches tall, he was able to peek over the transom and see his baby daughter's arrival. He wanted to make sure the doctor was doing it right.

When mom and I were still in the hospital, she heard the phone ring at the nurse's station one evening. Shortly after that, a nurse breezed into the room and opened some windows. "She said it was to let some fresh air in," mom told me, "but I knew your dad had called." Sure enough, there had been a tornado warning, and the one thing every Kansan knew to do in tornado weather was to open their windows (to reduce the risk of damage from sudden air pressure changes.)

And look at those hands! You would think a huge man with a gravelly voice would scare little kids, but they loved it when he scooped them up with those big hands and let them touch the ceiling.

My brother and I still have conversations that include declarations like, "Dad would have like that." He's been gone ten years today, but we never forget that he is a big part of who we are.