I found a lone piece of Dove dark chocolate in the pantry today so decided I’d better eat it. I love Dove chocolates for two reasons – they simply taste good and there’s a saying on the inside of each foil wrapper. The sayings are generally inspirational or thought provoking. Some mean more to me than others. Today’s wrapper is one that came at a particularly meaningful time for me  – it says “Quote your dad.”

I opened the chocolate and smiled when I saw the saying. You see, my Dad has been recently diagnosed with Lewy Body Dementia. He’s been doing okay, sort of, but took a big turn for the worse two weeks ago. Now he’s mad at my Mom a lot, he believes there are up to three people named Char (that’s my Mom’s name), he can’t read a clock anymore but is obsessed with the schedule and getting places on time and he is up all hours of the night. Things have been tough, to say the least.

Dad is saying all sorts of things these days – but he’s not saying things that are particularly quotable other than a few days ago Dad said to me, out of the blue and almost in tears, “You see, I don’t drive anymore.” It’s a big deal that Dad’s not driving, because Dad always did the driving in our family but Mom’s been the one behind the wheel for about a year and a half now.

The driving quote is a sad sort of quote from Dad. I have a lot of memories of quotes from Dad from the past, from when Dad was like he used to be.

“Honey, I’m home!” – I remember Dad saying this when he walked in the door after work. My memory is that he walked in the door at 4:20 p.m., Monday through Friday, put his lunch box on the counter and said Honey, I’m home or Char, I’m home. And he’d ask Mom “how was your day?” and kiss her.

“Good morning, good morning, it’s great to see your shining face, good morning, good morning, to you.” When I was younger, Dad listened to Boone and Erickson on 830 AM WCCO radio in the morning. They’d sing this good morning song and I remember Dad singing it to me in the morning

He’d also say “Rise and Shine” to me when he tried to wake me up for school.

And, when he could feel himself getting mad, “I’m going to blow my top” – That quote isn’t a fun one but it’s a big part of who my Dad is. Dad always struggled with his temper. I inherited it 🙂 and I struggle with mine, too.

Dad often told my kids, Rose and Ryan, a joke: Question:  “Why did the boy carry a ladder to school?” Sometimes the kids would answer the joke and sometimes Dad would. No matter who came up with the punch line or how many times we heard the joke, we’d all laugh when we heard the answer: “So he could go to high school!”

I know there are more quotes from Dad but I am coming up short on what all they are right now. I know more will come to me as we move along.

Can you quote your Dad?