I'm just a phone call away, I've heard this a lot in the past week or so. Friends, family, and everyone in between have said this to me, and it truly means a lot but nothing meant as much as when my parents said it. Daddy called me at least three times a day sometimes more like 10 times. Mom and I would talk then I would call daddy and relay whatever "news" mom and I had discussed, now mom and dad talked but by the time daddy talked to her, he had forgotten that I had already told him or vice versa. Dad would call me with a new joke or to see what HOT was doing or to ask me to fax bills. The point is we talked a lot!
Daddy loved his phone. I remember him getting his first cell phone, this is back when they came in a bag, huge phones for the car. Daddy had a wrecker service back then and he hated to miss a call. When we were inside he couldn't hear the phone ring so he fixed that problem he had it wired through his horn. So when the phone rang and the truck was off the horn would blow, that got old quick! Up until about two years ago he still had a big brick phone. We always teased him that it would be buried with him because he didn't want to give that one up. He finally switched to a flip phone, he could dial out and sometimes find a number he was looking for but he would call me and I would have to get the messages off the phone for him. I don't think he would have ever figured out a smart phone. I have so many memories of daddy but today I'll just share a few that involve phones...
So one night he and mom were at a funeral. Up near the casket their was a wreath with a phone in the middle that said "Jesus called" during the car ride home daddy told mama about this wreath and said he wasn't answering their phone anymore, to which mama replied "it's ok if Jesus was calling it wouldn't be for you" Mama over the years picked up daddy's wit. Daddy loved telling everyone that. Daddy called one of our customers one day and the phone conservation went like this (now remember daddy call him). "Hey Harold this is Van call me back" he hung up the phone and looked around and said "ahhhh shit". He called the guy back and said he hadn't taken his medicine that day and corrected his message. Daddy always blamed things he did, well the bad things anyway, on not
taking his meds.
One night during his wrecker service years daddy got a call from the state patrols office, they needed him at a wreck. Daddy said ok and got he location. It was the middle of the night like a lot of calls were, well instead of getting up he dozed back off. Maybe an hour later they called back to ask him if he had sent someone, daddy thinking quick said " he isn't there yet? Guess I'll have to come myself". Daddy was quick like that, he always had a come back for ya even in the middle of the night.
When we switched to Nextel many years ago, we had direct connect, which is basically like Walkie talkies made into your phone. Daddy would drive me crazy with it. He would know I would be in Walmart or in a crowd and I never opted for the clip to wear my phone so it was always in my purse, so he would two way me and say "let me out of here! Help me I'm stuck in her purse! I can't breathe in here!" Boy did I get some looks!
Daddy loved to call people and pull jokes on them. My friend that he called tattoo mama received a call from him one night. He called her and told her she won a wet t-shirt contest and her prize was dinner. He paid for our dinner that night, I'm pretty sure we went to red lobster.
Yep daddy and I talked a lot. While he was on the road he got bored so that was his way to kill time. But I never hung up without hearing my daddy say he loved me, and I didn't say it first he would say "you too" to which I would reply I love you daddy and he again would say you too.
One of the hardest things I deal with is that daddy and I talked everyday, all but the day before he died. I was sick and spent my day sleeping. Mama and told him I was sick so he didn't call because he didn't want to wake me. I wish he had. The last time I spoke to my daddy was Saturday May 17, we were taking Corbin out and mom had given him 10 dollars to spend so daddy told me to give him 11 dollars from him. We talked like usual and then I hung up. If I had only known this would have been the last time I would have stayed on the phone the hours telling him how much I loved him and I would have thanked him for everything he's done for me. But you never know.
Everyday when I wake up or when we come home I check my phone for that flashing light to see if my daddy might have left me a message. But I know it's not. I did find some old messages the other day on the phone from him and it's so nice to hear his voice and laugh at the things he would say. There was a message to call headquarters, which was home. One message he said he was from the lost and found department, they had my phone and if I wanted it, all I had to do was come home. He also left a message that I should change my middle name to Go because I was always in the road. These are the little things that make losing my daddy so hard! Sure do wish he was just a phone call away now.
