Cliche, maybe, but my dad is a superhero. Again...it's not something that he did for me recently that makes me think this. To anyone else, he's an ordinary, honest, hard working, middle class man. We try to talk a couple of times a week, but since he gave me the gift/curse of an incredible work ethic, we often times go a week or two without talking, due to being held up at work or just crashing from exhaustion as soon as we aren't on the go. And while our relationship has gone from one extreme to the other, I believe that not having him for a bit makes me appreciate him that much more.
I am the younger, female version of papa Norse. We have the EXACT same humor that it's gross....we both like running the same one joke into the ground, because to him and I, it's STILL funny and will never get old. Everyone around us wants us to die, both while we're telling that joke, and then following our telling of it, when him and I are the only two so inconsolable from laughter that everyone else has left the room but him and I....still laughing. We might have rewinded a few parts of Napoleon Dynamite to get a second dose...and both laugh hysterically every time a teenage boy movie comes on, even though we both say how stupid it is, and that we're probably wasting brain cells watching it. Also, when my dad laughs his lunatic laugh, I can't help but laugh with him, even if I don't want to because I don't even know why I'm laughing in the first place..it's like a God damn spell was cast on me...what can I say, the man is hilarious.
He has no idea how smart he is. He is sensitive that he never had the opportunity to finish school. But in actuality, he always has intelligent answers to major life questions, and the profundity from which he speaks has inspired me on MANY occasions. He is one of those rare people who speaks from his experiences, his heart, and his brain...which is far more valuable than any degree out there. He is not simple...he is always expanding his knowledge and is open to new ideas. He is the only person I know that reads the paper everyday, starting with the obituaries and the sports sections. I guess he kinda needs to be a little crazy and open minded, because with a daughter like me...you can't exactly be narrow-minded.
He loves and gives his love when he believes it is a good cause. Obvi, I'm a great cause, and so he loves the hell out of me. I remember him and my step-mother "adopting" an underprivileged family for christmas one year, and my step mom later told me they overspent because he didn't want to put back any of the things he had picked out. (He was in charge of the dad and the little girl!) He loves all of his kids, and even when he's frustrated with one of us, he would never outrightly give up on us or walk away. He doesn't throw his hands up at us, even though we have countless times done that to him. We can always come home. We all know it, and we all, at one point, have taken him for granted. Somehow, he still loves us and is proud of every one of us, and never misses a chance to highlight our accomplishments or forgive our shortcomings.
Last night, dad was tired. He felt (though he didn't say this) that he was spinning his wheels, working so hard to get by and was just exhausted by the every day bullshit of life. I can't wait until my dad and my step mother are able to retire, and sit and appreciate the people and environments that they helped create. I can't wait for them to never have to worry about anything except for staying healthy so they can live long into their grandkids lives. I am impatient for the day that they live next door to me...I lived the first 25 years away from them, and I kinda wanna spend the next 25 all up in there business, driving them absolutely fucking crazy. Get ready guys...I am moving home soon, and you won't be able to get rid of me. :-)
Best memories of my father:
-I was 13, desperate for a pony. He took me to my horsebackriding lesson every saturday morning, and read the paper and drank his coffee, and watched me through the glass windows. He took me to see one that was being sold, and then entertained the idea of actually buying it, going through the magazine of equipment we would need for this pony, along side me at our kitchen table. I was practically putting together a business proposal: why dad should buy me a pony and how much it will cost. I never got a pony. Instead, I had an empathetic and sincere father who wanted for me to have a pony. Better...
-Never a christmas or holiday goes by that he didn't give me a sentimental piece of jewelry that I have saved. A locket, a sun/moon charm that I had put on my charm bracelet which was later another dad/laura gift...a beautiful bracelet he sent to me when we weren't talking. I have yet to have a boyfriend buy me anything that remotely compares....
--The time he visited me at college and took me and my friends mini-golfing and screams out when we're getting our equipment.."I want the blue balls!" ...of course followed by his lunatic laugh. Gross dad....but hilarious.
--When we couldn't find parking, so he parked in handi-capped and grabbed his broken golf club out of the back of the truck and tapped it on the street, pretending to be blind....
--They day I watched him marry the love of his life, and felt happy for him and jealous at the same time...
--Watching him play with his grandson Luke, because Luke is under the same spell I am, which is...
Extreme, stupid, overwhelming admiration and gratitude for all that makes up our better half, Dennis Norse Sr.
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