My Dad's Purple Star Saphire Ring

My Dad always said these things that at the time made no sense and at times felt obnoxious, mean or sarcastic when correcting me so most of the time I didn't listen. He must of known that recordings of him were being made in the back of my mind and thirty years later he would make perfect sense.

One thing he would always say, "It's OK to get angry! If you get mad you still have a chance to win, but if you start feeling sorry for yourself you've already lost!"

I think he said something like this when he saw me help a guy up who had cheap-shotted me in football. "I think you play a little better when your mad. Playing defense is not about being nice."

 He said something like it when I got a post surgical staph infection in my knee the spring of my Senior year. During the thirty days I was in the hospital I had to come to terms with loosing my dreams of being a professional baseball player (I actually had had a pretty good shot at it) and come to terms with loosing my football scholarship and on day seven, in traction, with tubes running in and out of everywhere come to terms with the very real possibility of loosing my leg. I remember saying something really nasty to him when he'd asked me if I had given up and he said, "Good, get mad at me and get really mad at this thing, I'd rather see you angry than feeling sorry for yourself!" He then brought me some shrimp fried rice.

So I got some bad news at work today. I have been, "displaced" as of January first. Merry Christmas.

I was walking my dogs in the snow and I looked down at my freezing hands and my Dad's ring must have hit the sun just right and the star in the middle winked at  me. I was looking down and strating to feel pretty darn sorry for myself and there he was telling me it was alright to be angry but not to feel sorry myself. "You can still win this one Bitty Buddy. You always play a little better when you're mad."

I have to take my DDD's advice with a grain of salt. What may have worked when I was an 18 year old playing football doesn't always bode well for a 46 year old 6' 3" 229 pound  bald guy who out-weighs his wife and three daughters combined. I've found that if I temper my anger with gratitude I can still win a few battles and not scare everyone off.

I am grateful Pfizer paid for my Masters Degree before kicking me to the curb. OK sarcasm is hard to grow out of but I am grateful and would do it all again in a heartbeat if I could.

Thank you Pfizer. You'll be see me again.

Mary's took seven staples in the head.

Yesterday we took Mary to the ER in Fruita with a head wound. She had been riding on the back this toy car thing with her friend in the kitchen and popped a wheelie. Mary fell back and hit her head on the cabinet corner. I had just got home early and was to have a phone interview in a liitle over an hour. It was hard to see the wound because her hair matted with blood instantly but at one point I saw blood gush out and splater on the floor. I put a towel and pressure on it for a few minutes and the bleeding did stop but I've seen bleeding like that before and know it means stiches. I told Suzy we have to go to the ER so we went and this what we saw when the hair was washed away. Of course Suzy never looked at it.

Suzy was a rock of comfort and had been stiched up recently in the very same room. That would be maybe 15 or so posts ago if you want to see it. It's pretty grusome. Hedge clippers and all!

Seven staple later and Mary didn't even cry. When I told her how tough she was and that she didn't even cry she said, "Yeh I did!" The she proceeded to try and make herslf cry and instead cracked herslef up and giggled.

This is the type of thing hat happen to me a lot while I was growing up. My Dumb Dumb Daddy O would always joke that I had my own private stall in the Cleveland ER with a plaque and everything because I was there on such a regular basis. It got so bad that once when I got hit by a car and my brake handle punched through my knee I had to chase my brother all the way home so he wouldn't tell Dad. I watched through the window as he told him and my Dad checked his watch and then went back to reading the paper. When I finally came in he wrapped my leg in a towel so I wouldn't bleed on the car seats. and we went to my private stall.

I was about to have my interview out in the car in the parking lot of the hospital but the interviewer left me a message to delay the interview for a half hour so I was able to get to my desk at home with a minute to spare. The interview went well but we'll see. What was great was being there for Mary and Suzy and having everthing work out in the end!

Co State Champion All-Around Gymnastics!

Kayla was placed in second place on the the call out to the stand. It was awesome.

Turns out Kayla was tied for 1st !!!!!

She is the All-Around State Co Champion

She may have been denied public recognition and their mistake robbed some of the glory but that fact that Kayla won a State Championship can never be taken away! Her father could not be more proud especially since none of this seems to bother her at all and her smiles can't get any bigger over the whole experience anyways.

Hard to believe a Champion at age 10!

Way to go K-bear.

Love,

DDD

 

 

When I Turned 18

The is a long sorted tail that starts with me having to admit that I drove a Pacer.

The story gets better from there because my Dad could throw a party. When I turned 18 my Dad considered me a man. Legal adult at least. He said, "now you really can go to jail, always remember that, and I won't come and get you." I said what if I was innocent? He said he'd come then. Then explained if I was to get drunk enough to get arrested I would deserve to sleep it off in the slammer.

When I turned 18 my girlfriend, Tina and my parents and friends threw me a surprise birthday party. I was totally surprised. Completely.

My Dad set up the bar!

Everyone crammed into my bedroom and I had come home before going downtown because I needed a tie to be able to get into Ben's Dad's private club ? (and I didn't even ketch on).

I don't want to get in the way with too many words. I think the following pictures speak for themselves.

Hard to believe I don't remember much of my 18th birthday. I do remember waking up freezing cold in the back yard upper garden beds. Killer party. Thanks Dumbdumbdaddyo.

Thanksgiving and the Second Amendment!

We got four days at home together!

That's me practicing my second amendment right. This is my new Ruger 10/22 with extended clip. My dad was a Marine and taught me how to shoot his 22. I've been teaching Kayla like he taught me. Her gun is a custom .22 with large bore barrel, carved thumb hold and scope. She's very accurate. She can hit a can top from a hundred yards!

We had a great Thanksgiving weekend home as a family! We hiked, ate a bunch of turkey and spent quality time together.

This is called, "across the street from Dinosaur Hill." It's my favorite place to walk the dogs off lead.

At the end of one the trails is a rock with a depression I called a bird bath but the girls said it was a nest. My dumbdumbdaddyo-birds.

Suzy and Chloe ran the Grand Junction Turkey Trot 5K!

They did awesome and started a new family tradition.

This picture of Suzy and Chloe says it all. Sometimes staying home is the best way to go!

Best Thanksgiving Ever.

1952 Sugar Bowl Champions Game Ball

University of Maryland

1952

Sugar Bowl Champions

In the 1952 Sugar Bowl my dad was a Senior playing for the Maryland Terrapins. They were undefeated and ranked 3rd in the nation and got to play #1 ranked Tennessee. The Terps won 28 to 13. It was my dad's last game. Wikipedia called my Dad an anchor of the defense but he did play both ways and long snapped. This was confirmed because he signed the ball twice with the offense and defensive teams.



I have the football sitting here next to the laptop as I am posting about it and Mary my 4 year old pointed out that the ball on my desk was also on my laptop and she asked if she could hold it. I told he it was her grandfather's football and showed her were he'd signed it. I traced his familiar signature with my finger Jefferson D. Keith. Her face lit up and she said his name Keith tooo! I said yea he was my father and that's why we are named Keith! That autograph of his never changed during his entire adult life.

I just drove my mom from Denver to Phoenix in her car. My brother had driven her from MO to Denver and I was to finish the last leg of her move with my sister. We got to stop in Fruita for a day and visit with the family. We went out to dinner at our favorite restaurant Enzo's and had a great Veteran's Day assembly at the girls school.

When we got to Phoenix my sister Carol asked if I wanted dad's football from the Sugar Bowl and of course I said yes! In the Phoenix airport I took those pictures and carried it loose on the plain. Several people asked about it and one guy said I need to put that in a museum or something! During the drive we talked about a lot but after a couple of hours my listening skills are fried and my mom continues to talk for fifteen straight hours. I'm still trying to short out all she shared but for know I will settle with not having been driven crazy the whole time. One thing I remember was her saying,  "Jeff, your father, tried very hard with you boys because his dad was a real SOB. His dad was mean, really mean, and a drinker. So when it came to being a father he just did what he always wanted his father to do and never did, like show affection and set a good example.

Seeing the McWilliams reunited in Phoenix was a good thing. I plan to go back to AZ with my girls after Christmas for a little family reunion with J and T and E and the McWilliams posse.

1964

I was using my brother's guest room and saw a scrap book of my dad's association career and in the back was a large envelope of all the letters of congratulations for being appointed Chairman of the Board at ASAE (American Society of Association Executives. Also in the envelope was this 1964 Passport! I had never seen this picture. Two years before I was born this is what my father looked like. My dad at 37 ten years younger than I am now. My wife is 37. She said he looks a lot older than she does. I think he looks a lot older than I do. I guess it is hard to see youself as old as you really are.

The first thought that went through my mind when I saw this was that in the Sixties my dad was a member of Men in Black. For what I know of him during that time it may be true. A couple of times he had mentioned he had worked for the CIA but gave it up for Law School. Between 1964 and 1967 he traveled extensicely in Europe, Berlin, France, London, Nederland, Drewitz. Who knows that man could keep a secret.

The Ferries Perfect Season

Undefeated. It means something. Even when you are not keeping score. The girls have always kept score. Chloe alway keeps score. This year they went undefeated. One game was close 3 - 2 a real nail biter, but I had to miss second half for mary's game.

Ferries Fall 2012! Undefeated!

Perfect Seasons don't come every year.

This is Dead Horse Point in Moab where the Ferries had their victory camp out! Suzy stayed with Kayla and her parents for the Home Meet! Kayla Qualified for States!

Let them fall open where they will.

Kayla wouldn't let me buy her book the other day. She said she would much rather have a debit card for her Kindle Fire so she could download her book instead. I think the romance of a book will be lost on this generation. At least she likes to read. This Kindle thing is amazing only I fear she is so attached to it that when it goes down, like every good computer will eventually, she will also meltdown.

This clip of wood box wisdom reminds me of how I read the Bible. I just open it and see what it wants me to know today. I wonder if I do this because my dad showed me. I do remember him buying paper backs at the beach in the summer. At the racks he would open one up stare at it for a few seconds and then put it back he would do this several times and eventually pick one. Once I asked what he was doing and he said he randomly opens a book and reads two pages and he then knows if it a story worth reading or a waste of time. When he would pick one he would read it voraciously. He usually would read it in one sitting or at least in one weekend.

As an experiment I am going to go to my Bible and see what It has for me today and I will share it with you.

I opened in Psalms...I love the , O Lord, my strength. The Lord is my rock, and my fortress, and my deliverer...The law of the Lord is perfect, reviving the soul; the testimony of the Lord is sure, making wise the simple...Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life; and I shall dwell in the house of the Lord for ever...The Lord is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear? The Lord is the stronghold of my life; of whom shall I be afraid...God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble. Therefore we will not fear though the earth should change...Create in me a clean heart, O God, and put a new and right spirit within me...O give thanks to the Lord, for he is good; His steadfast love endures for ever...Those who trust in the Lord are like Mount Zion, which cannot be moved......

Then I flip to the New Testament...Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied...Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God...Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God...Blessed are you (Matthew)...

Great experiment! I should do this more often. I say these things in the name of Jesus Christ amen.