Thinking about Father’s Day this month, my thoughts are focused on my memories of my dad.
My dad, that handsome British Combined Ops (England’s version of the USA’s Green Berets) Sargent-Major Donald “Sonny” Gee, took on very different role once back in civilian life.
One of my favorite memories were the lengths he went to for me after he purchased a doll for my 5th birthday. That doll was as tall as I was at five and, once given, was hardly ever out of my sight.
I decided that she needed pretty shoes, so when dad went on his next road trip for my parents’ business, he search and searched to find some. When he returned home I was sound asleep, but when I woke up, there were three pairs of doll shoes sitting next to my bed.
One pair of shoes didn’t fit my doll and due to my little girl “behavior”, he actually returned them, not once but twice to get the right size. When I hugged him for doing that, his only comment was it was worth it “just to see you smile.”
When we were living in England, he used to take me every Sunday morning to Hyde Park and made sure to make all arrangements to reserve a Shetland pony named Dumpling for me to ride. I rode Dumpling every week until I was big enough to ride a full-sized horse.
Remembering little things like that after so many years made me think of the grandfather he was, and how “over the top” he would have been had he lived to see and spend time with his great-great grandchildren.
As the photo shows, there are now five. No doubt, he would have been taking them to the lake to teach the girls how to fish, the boys would learn how to drive his cabin-cruiser boat, and of course, he’d take all of them horseback riding.
I remember the last conversation we had. My dad told me that he “had only loved two women in his life, my mother and me” That sentence still brings me to tears and no doubt he would have amended that number to six – for his two granddaughters and two great-great granddaughters.
Remembering these events and visualizing my dad doing the same with my five great-grandchildren makes me appreciate the time I spent with him and how much I miss and loved him.
