To Know Me Is To Know My Family: The Egg and My Dad in honor of his Birthday (#17)

The Egg and Dad

Some of you may have read the book, The Egg and I by Betty MacDonald. For my Mom, Lucille, it was one of her favorites. She often compared life on the farm with the book. Hence the play on words “The Egg and Dad.”

My Dad had a playful nature and always put his children first, as did our Mom. We were very fortunate indeed to have such wonderful parents. As children we came to realize that our Father, Albert had a very unique talent. He could lay eggs! We first discovered it when one day my Dad, to our surprise began strutting around the house much like a chicken. He was flapping his arm as a chicken would flap their wings, all the while clucking quite loudly. When we asked Mom what had come over our Dad, she told us that he was getting ready to lay an egg. We looked at each other with wonder, after all we were all under 5 years of age. Mom got a pail and brought it to the center of the front room and told us all to sit around and watch this amazing event. There we were all wide eyed and ready. Dad perched himself on the pail. He squawked, flapped his “wings,” shacked his legs and made the most expressive faces. He then let out a final cluck and we all heard a clink in the pail. Imagine our surprise when my Dad stood up and motioned us to all come around the pail and look inside. Sure enough, there it was a real egg.

While living in Washington, the electricity would go out frequently. We would always gather around my dad has he told us a story about a baby bear. The Daddy bear was always in charge to put baby bear to bed. He would start by putting fresh cloth diapers on him, then a t shirt, socks, pajama bottoms and then the tops. Just as he would put him down to sleep, baby bear would be wet and Daddy bear would start to undress him, taking off his shirt, t shirt, pants, diapers and socks, replacing them with each item one by one. For some reason it kept us calm, held our attention, and made us happy until the lights went back on or we fell asleep. My Dad was a very special, patient, loving man and a wonderful father.

As I continue to write my blog about my family, you will come to hear more stories about how wonderful our parents were to all of us.