Father’s Day

[MOST] everyone thinks that their Dad is the “BEST DAD IN THE WORLD.”  Well, my dad IS.  :)    [I was inspired by this card]

Anywho… I felt like being a little crafty and making him a card to show him how much I care and love him.

We have a lot of inside jokes in our family, my father being the originator of most. He has a lot of “phrases” that he says to make any situation funny, or ridiculous, silly or just for the sake of saying the phrase again in a versatile situation. These “phrases” have really made an imprint on the memories of my childhood. And I believe that these sayings have been a glue that has made our family stick together throughout the years. [They are one of the "epoxies" that bind our family together. ] We have moved away from each other over the past few years, with going to college and getting married, but we still have these phrases that we say to each other. Anytime I say one of these it makes me feel like I am home. Whether text message, email, voicemail, snail-mail, talking on the phone, or face to face conversations, these little words keep us together. And it makes me really happy to spread most of them to other familes, even my own now. Matt has gotten the hang of some of them.

The Phrases

“But I am still a nice person,” I think this one started with my mother. He likes to try to annoy my mom, or just be silly most of the time. So if he does something ridiculous he will say this. It is pretty versatile.

“Of course, I am an excellent driver.” I am not sure on how this came into fruition, but I can tell a funny story about my parents and driving. If our family happened to meet someplace and have had driven two cars, my parents would race home. One time, and this is a vivid memory for all of us, my mother and I were in one car and we had been boxing him in on the way home and had the lead going into our neighborhood [which is on a two-way street with a median until you reach our specific neighborhood which is a circle]. So my dad is behind us with my brother. My mom turns into the driveway and my dad cuts across the yard to beat my mother to the garage. My mother and I were in awe, laughing. Classic.

One of my favorites is when we are driving around town and he sees someone running or biking, or doing some type of exercise, he says [as if saying to the person exercising] “get the lead out.”

Some other things he says in a funny way are, “People,” which I believe originated from my brother-in-law Todd, and “Perfect,” which originated from our Thanksgiving trip to Banff, Canada with the Schindewolfs. Everywhere we went, the ski resorts, the restaurants… everyone said “PERFECT” as if it was the “perfect” response to anything. So it, too, made an imprint on my childhood.

Some of the classic sayings, which have come to be used by my brother, mother, myself and even my husband is, “Do you think you are playing with kids (there)?” This is classically used in a sarcastic manner to reference something being really easy or of high status. For example: I picked up my father and mother from the airport the other day. My dad comes over to the car and gives me a hug and says, “picking us up in style!” (I drive an old/used Lexus). To which my response was, “Do you think you are playing with kids here?” This one is really quite versatile.

Another, and this one is an oldy and a goody,  and got a LOT of use back when my brother and I were youngsters growing up. “Strong like Bull. Weak like field mouse.” All I remember is everyone who knew my father, would say this at some point in our time together. My dad used it to taunt our friends, poke fun at meets and races and whenever it was appropriate, or sometimes inappropriate to use.  I do not know how it originated (if you do please comment), but I know it got a lot of USE! And it is still pretty funny today. This was a king phrase back in it’s heyday, it ruled for many years.

Please feel free to comment your favorite “Grant-phrase” stories!