Memories of my father

Random memories of my father Richard H. Andrew...

Saturday mornings making pancakes or waffles.  He would get up well before we did to make the batter and let the bubbles dissipate (so he said) so the batter would be better.  My memory is he would get up at 5:30 (an unheard of time on a Saturday to a child).  I'm not sure what went into deciding pancakes or waffles.  We loved both.  He never sat down with us.  I picture him standing by the griddle or iron making the next one/batch.  And there was usually enough batter left for Dean and I to have more for lunch...but we made those.

He bought ice cream in gallon cartons.  Not the best brand and not the worst but we seemed to have ice cream every night around 10pm.  I had a roommate in college who told me they had ice cream once a WEEK!  And the joke became how big of a bowl we would bring out to the living room.  And it was to the living room...not the kitchen.  And either with Hershey's syrup or Nestle's Quik.

I remember him bringing home 3 Musketeer bars or sometimes Milky Way bars and putting them in the refrigerator.

He would stop at Reader's World by Drake on the way home from work every so often to bring home The Sporting News and sometimes other publications so Dean and I could keep up on sports.

When I was young, he clipped my nails and read to me.

He played catch with us.  Once in awhile he would come out to the back yard and demonstrate hiking a football or drop-kicking a football.  Dean reminded me that he said he would play catch with us AFTER we got our chores done.  I may not remember that because I was always trying to get out of chores.

I remember once I was shooting baskets in the driveway with a few friends and my dad parked the car...walked toward the court and called for the ball.  He shot a little push shot and swished it...walked by us and said "face" (in your face)...my friends thought he was pretty cool for that.

He took us to sporting events.  I know we went to Kansas City a few times to see the Boston Red Sox.  That was a big deal to stay overnight.  I remember eating at Waid's Restaurant.  When I was in high school, I wanted to see some NBA games.  The (then) Kansas City Kings were known as the Kansas City-Omaha Kings.  So some of the "home" games were played in Omaha.  He took me to see my favorite player Pete Maravich and also we saw the San Antonio Spurs with George Gervin and Larry Kenon.  And we drove back after the game so that was late on a school/work night.

I don't know if we were "taught" to do this or if we just followed suit, but when we went out to eat, I also seemed to look for the most inexpensive item which was usually a "stack of 3" pancakes and "milk with the meal".  Maybe we just like pancakes but I still do that when I'm out to a restaurant that serves breakfast.