I’ve struggled with posting my personal life online. In fact, as an INFJ I try to avoid it (IYKYK). But as I was planning my posts for this week I knew I would be attending my father’s funeral on Monday and honestly, that’s all that’s on my mind. So carpe diem…if ever I could convey the memories a piece of clothing holds, this is the day.
A few months back my mother rescued a stack of Dad’s shirts from the donation pile. My dad was famous in our family for wearing t-shirts with:
1. Snoopy
and
2. Dad-joke nerdy ― but witty ― sayings. My favorites were the ones that said, “Stop reading my shirt,” and “There are 10 types of people. Those who understand binary and those who don’t.”
My mom pulled 8 Snoopy shirts from the donation pile that day and then, together with my Dad, asked if I would make a t-shirt quilt. I asked if he had any others to include (so as to make it more symmetrical). He didn’t but decided to order a new one.
The t-shirt in this photo is number 9. To someone else this may be just an image of Snoopy dressed as an astronaut. I see much much more:
· Dad waking us up at 1am to watch meteor showers as a family…at least twice a year
· Having an earlier dinnertime than my friend’s families because Dad left for work at WSTF before I woke up and was back home by 4pm.
· Watching him set up his astronomy scopes and trackers and computers, and then clicking through emails in awe as I look at his most recent backyard astronomy images
· The photos of Dad being given his Silver Snoopy Award at WSTF (an award always presented by an astronaut)
The memories here span almost my entire life (from meteor showers at 5 years old, to clicking on a new astronomy image he produced in my thirties). This was my Dad’s t-shirt. It’s brand new. But in it are so many memories of him ― from a single image on a single shirt that he never even wore.
I love you Dad…