Tag Archives: dad

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Let’s Talk Trees Part One

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My dad lived about five miles from me for the last twenty years of his life. After his passing I have found myself driving by his house three to four times a week. I have no rational explanation for this except maybe seeing his house makes me remember him.

He died in 2021 and his wife sold the house in 2022 and moved closer to her family. I would meet the new owner Bob within the year. He is a lovely man and I sent him a card afterwards telling him God had chosen the perfect person to own my dad’s house. In the fall of 2022 I drove by the house and noticed Bob had planted a tree in the front yard. I remember getting very excited and thinking this will be the unofficial, official John Carty memorial tree.

Spring arrived and the tree died. I’m not going to lie, I kind of smiled and immediately texted my best friend Meg to tell her. The fall of 2023 I drove by to find another tree in the front yard. I was like yes, an unofficial official John Carty memorial tree but again the the spring of 2024 the tree was dead and I was laughing my head off.

When I first moved into my house in 1990 my dad told me to never plant a tree in the front yard as they are nothing but a pain in the butt. Thinking back he never had a tree in any of his yards. I was sharing with my mother and she said she and my dad planted a tree in the front yard of my childhood home. So I drove by and took a photo of it and showed it to her.

Screenshot

She said that was not the tree but if she still had the photo of me sitting under the tree they planted it would be helpful.

Yes in the fall of 2024 Bob planted a third tree in the front yard. I had decided that if this one dies I would send him a card and tell him to give it up as my dad was blocking him from heaven. All last winter I drove by his house wondering if the tree was going to make it or not.

Around the beginning of April I saw leaves on the new tree. My first thought I was kind of sad it made it because it was fun to think my dad was up in heaven killing trees. However, two seconds later I was like finally an unofficial official John Carty memorial tree.

Last week I went to my hair girls house who just happens to live in same subdivision as my dad (and mom’s) first house. I decided to drive by it (see a pattern here) and I noticed the tree in the front yard had been cut down. I’m thinking it was the storm that blew through a month ago. So after my hair I decide to clean up my scrapbook room and found all the pictures of when I was a little girl. I have no memory of how they got there but I found the picture of my sister and I under the tree in the front yard.

Since the photo is taken from the house looking out into the street I just had to drive back over there to see if it’s the same tree. So I park my car around the corner and walk in front of the house where the stump is and view the street. It’s in the exact same location as the photo and same distance from the street so it has to be the same tree. Luckily I still had the photo of the tree on my phone and now have a picture of the tree my dad planted fifty-seven years ago.

What are the odds that a tree finally starts to grow at the last house my dad lived in and the first tree he planted in the first home he bought died at the same time? Is this a sign that I am totally crazy? Do not answer this question.

Mole Moral ~ Sometimes we do weird things we just can’t explain and then eventually tie them into our story.

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My sisters new ride

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Sometime back when my mom was still at rehab my sisters engine blew in her car. It’s a known issue with that vehicle but since there is no recall she was basically screwed. It would be a year wait for a new engine or she could spend four thousand dollars for a used one with no guarantee it wouldn’t do the same thing. She had been using my moms car during this time but my mom is ready to drive again so Karen has been looking for a car.

She found a used Nissan Morano which both she and our dad had owned back in the day. It only had 107,000 miles on it and was located in Rolla. Now Rolla is thirty minutes from Salem where our father grew up. I just knew that this was the car. So Brian says I guess you two bimbos need me to come with you. We were planning to go to Salem after to make sure the two hot wheels were still glued onto our grandparents headstone. Once I realized if we bought the car he could drive mine home, I was like yes come with us.

Karen called to make sure it was still there. She swore the person on the phone sounded like Flo from the show Alice (think Mel, kiss my grits). So we all head to Rolla. We pull up and it’s like a mom and pop shop next door to the owners house. The person that answered the phone was a shy timid guy who was super nice. Karen and Brian test drove it and Brian says it’s a good deal. So we talk about how to pay. They got burned by a personal check but the banks are closed for Christmas Holiday so I cannot get one. (Side note, my mom is paying me back and Karen is paying my mom). So my sister says how about if we give you five hundred cash and the rest a check. He has to check with his boss and get car inspected so we go into Rolla for lunch.

The guy calls as we are finishing lunch and agrees to the deal. So I say to Brian how much cash do you have on you. He starts counting out his money. He has exactly 480 and Karen has twenty so we don’t have to deal with ATM. In the meantime this dude is watching the entire scene basically giving him the look of you are paying that much money for two old beaters, they must be really good. Bahahaha

So when we return to sign the deal Karen notices a picture on the wall. It looks almost exactly like my dads first roadster including being red. Then she sees another with four corvettes one of which looks just like my tattoo on my arm. I was like I knew dad lead us to this car. As we were heading over to Salem underneath the sticker that said the year was a date written in white. Karen says what the hell is that. I said probably the date they got the car. Karen look at it. It was 12/21 which is our fathers birthday. He would have been eighty-one this year.

Mole Moral ~ Signs are everywhere. Often we are too busy to notice, slow down and pay attention.