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This month we celebrate Fathers. Poor fathers. Poor, long- suffering fathers. It must be difficult to be so clearly and dramatically out- ranked in your own home. They must get tired of being overruled or never consulted in the first place. Maybe that's why so many of them work late. Or hang out in sports bars. Or leave. It occurred to me that in my life, I have three special men that I'd like to introduce you to… First, my father: He and my mom divorced when I was seven. My mom, sister and I moved to Nebraska while he stayed in Southern California. This set up a really screwy situation in my head. We would see him for two or three weeks a year, during which time, he tried to cram in a year's worth of parenting, advice and fun. Every criticism he had for me weighed like an albatross around my neck for the rest of the year. But there were amazing moments too. He would write each of us a letter every week. They'd be long and hand- written, printed for a couple of years, telling us about the wacky adventures of his cats or the stupid things people did at the V.A. where he worked as an audiologist. Our best trip was the first year they were divorced. He drove to Nebraska in his Gran Torino (which later became my first car) towing a camper and took us north to Canada. When we stopped at the border, the patrol asked my dad if he had any guns. Trying to be helpful, I shouted, "Of course! He has LOTS of guns!" We spent longer than we expected at that stop while they searched the camper. The guns were at the house, but the man hadn't asked WHERE Dad's guns were. I also brought my Ka-Bangers on that trip. Ka-Bangers are two solid spheres of wood that dangled from separate strings attached to a handle. The trick was to get them to fly up and hit each other then fly down and hit each other as many times in a row as you could. So, in the seat directly behind my father, I went for the World's Record in Ka-Banging. Ka-Bang! Ka-Bang! Ka-Bang! Ka-Bang! … You get the idea. I got up to 94. It took HOURS. Think of that the next time your kids spend too much time on their phones. At least they're quiet. During one long leg of the trip (and they were all long legs - Dad wanted to get to the next destination, even if it meant driving for 12 hours straight), I felt a weird bump on my head. "I think I grew a tumor," I said, my voice shaking. "Don't touch it!" he snapped, which further alarmed me. "I'll stop and look at it." Four hours later, we stopped for lunch. He took me in the camper and made some considering noises (hmmm…) as he examined my head. "It's a tick," he finally announced. Then he got the pliers and pulled it out. In the four hours from when I first felt it to when he pulled it out, it had sucked up a lot of blood so, when he pulled it out, it popped and blood sprayed all over his hand and ran down my face. I began to feel faint and dad could see me turning white. "Let me get you something to drink," he said. He poured a tall glass of what looked like Kool-Aid (Oh Yeah!) and I drank it greedily. It. Was. Not. Kool. Aid. It was V-8 Tomato Juice. I barely made it out of the camper to vomit. The second special dad I know is my husband. He adores our son, Ben, and his son Clint from his first marriage. He takes Ben to all Ben's practices and attends every game, cheering him on with a passion that sometimes sounds like anger when they're losing, but comes from a place of love. He thinks both of his sons are hilarious and will often quote them to me if I missed something they said. While we disagree on parenting methods, I know that he is my partner in wanting them to become strong, compassionate and caring fathers themselves. Which brings me to my third special "man" who's not a man quite yet. Ben is 14 but I see glimmers of the father he will someday be. When he practices basketball in front of the house, the little boy or girl from next door will come out and he'll stop what he's doing and include them. They'll shoot the ball and miss by four feet and he'll say, "Oh! So close! Here, try again." He'll run around them and be silly, trying to make them giggle, which they always do, and he'll laugh too. If we have a little one visit us, he'll talk to them, ask them about their day or what they like in school, then look them in the eyes and listen to their answer. He makes them feel important. Knowing that I am having a part in raising an amazing father, that I married a good man who loves his kids, and that I had the honor of being the daughter to a man who always did his best makes Father's Day a very special day for me too. ~ Courtney Image Up Advertising & Design and the Yucaipa Chamber of Commerce accept no responsibility for content, accuracy or opinion, expressed or implied, of articles, announcements or advertisements in this magazine. Inclusion of advertisements does not carry with it any endorsement, actual or implied, for the product or service advertised. Image Up Advertising & Design and the Yucaipa Chamber of Commerce do not accept responsibility or liability for damage occasioned through use of products or services advertised herein. All items submitted are subject to editing and are not guaranteed to be printed per the discretion of the publisher. Contents of this magazine, including all text and photographs, are protected by copyright and may not be reproduced or reprinted without the expressed permission of Image Up Advertising & Design and/or the Yucaipa Chamber of Commerce. "Our Yucaipa" © Submission Policy We're looking for fun, interesting and heart- warming stories about life in Yucaipa. If you've been here for generations or are fairly new, we invite everyone to share. We're accepting photos and articles about events from 100 years ago to events from last week. And if you have something planned for next month, let us know. We'd love to help you promote it. Yucaipa really is a great place to live and this is one way to acknowledge that. This is our publication about our town… Our Yucaipa. If you have any questions, or would like more information about advertising in "Our Yucaipa," please call Courtney Taylor at 909-797-3647 or e-mail YucaipaNews@yahoo.com. And be sure to go to imageup.uberflip.com to see all the issues on line. "Our Yucaipa" Invites You… 2 OUR YUCAIPA | JUNE 2014 OUR YUCAIPA | JUNE 2014 3 Contents Young Volunteer at the Day of Hope. Photo by Hilary Peters YUCAIPA PHOTOS WANTED! If you have a photo you'd like to submit for consideration for a future cover, please send high-res digital photos to YucaipaNews@yahoo. com. If we select your photo for the cover, you will receive a $25 gift card for a local restaurant. Editor/Publisher Courtney Fox Taylor Assistant Editor Emily Isaak Contributing Writers Jaelin Palmer Michele Peters Randy Peters Yucaipa Chamber of Commerce Account Executive Stacey Parr Staff Photographer Hilary Peters If you have suggestions or would like to submit an article to Our Yucaipa, call Image Up at 909-797-3647. Our Yucaipa Magazine 4-6 Chamber Of Commerce News Business news around town 7-10 The Day of Hope Raising funds for Sarah Amento 11 Relay for Life Yucaipa team needs you 12 Movies in the Park Can you hear "Let it Go" one more time? 14 Middle of the Road Father's Day for the Village Idiot Happy Father's Day to Dads and to Those Who Love Them

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