February11,2011 My Dad

Today is my Dad's birthday. Sadly , he left me October 26 , 2009, but he is forever in my heart!
Because of his work as a skipper on a German freight ship on the rivers and canals of central Europe I only had my Dad around when I was a child , before I went to school at age 6 and later on during holidays , when I was able to convince Mom that I wanted to be on the boat with Dad. All the other times , he was away working to provide for his family.
Oh, how I missed him while growing up!
Dad and I always had a special bond, I was Daddy's girl and I adored everything he did and I wanted to learn it all.
Mom was devoted to my half sister in the other part of Germany  and she spend her energy to provide for her.
I remember sitting on Dad's lap while he spend hours driving the boat on the rivers . Pretty soon, I drove the boat as well  , under his supervision of course.
He built me  a play pen in front of the bridge on the boat , he gave me the biggest sand box a child could ask for , by letting me play in one of the freight compartments filled with sand.
He built me a swimming pool on the shore of a river , so I could play in the water, without being swept away from the current.
 He showed me how to fish, preferably, without a license , which caused some interesting run ins with the river guards.
He taught me to shoot his Flobert and I remember the demise of a good number of rats. More about this particular gun at a later date.
When I was older, I actually earned money driving the boat for him .While he was in the galley to eat,  I was proud to be able stear clear of all sorts of obstacles in the water and I  also managed to overtake slower boats without a flaw. He was proud when Iwas able to do  this and amused when I also copied his pendant to swear like a Rhine skipper(Rheinschiffer).
When I was even older I supported him even more.
Dad was never someone who drank a lot of alcohol, he plainly could not handle more than a few beer. One day  Christmas , he was invited to the neighbours to help decorate the tree!!!. Where I grew up, that meant, one schnapps per ornament! Well, Dad arrived pretty wasted  early afternoon at Christmas eve and my Mom was not amused. She was actually outraged and she let him have it. Poor Dad, he only wanted to be sick and than sleep it off. Of course , I helped him and made him comfortable and defended him with Mom.Somehow, the festivities for that evening were severely subdued. No matter, Dad was home , and I was excited!
Many years later, during one of my many visits from Canada , Dad and I took a trip to the Christkindl market in Nuremberg and we had a wonderful time. We ate, drank beer for lunch, smoked some forbidden cigarettes and shopped for lovely Christmas memorabilia. To this day , I still cherish all those mementos!
In his later years he selflessly devoted his life and his health to my mothers well being , who needed 24 /7 care until she suddenly passed on.
It was than, that I invited Dad to check out our place in Cochrane and perhaps see, if he would like to come and live with my husband and I.
It was not to be. His own health problems rendered him so helpless , that I had to make the difficult decision to find a place in a home for him.
From than on, we talked daily on the phone and I managed to visit at least twice a year. Whenever there was a crisis, I was there for him. Despite all his ailments he was able to visit us Christmas 2008 and he finally visited my new home with Werner. He loved it and I was proud to show Dad off to my new family.
He loved my attention and I loved giving him all my love.
His loss left an empty space in my life which I try to fill with as many memories of him, as I can.
I love you Dad.