Tri Stories: Happy POPS Day!!
Forty One years ago GOD granted me the BEST do over EVER!! He blessed me with my beautiful dad, father, POPS! My pops is the most important man in my life, people say a woman wants a man just like her dad, I’d have to agree with that except I don’t want a man JUST like my pops, but one with his CHARACTER is a must!
My pops is the man I go to with my questions and concerns about my relationships, life, and concerns, my good and bad times. I often say to him “you tell mommy, OK“…..One of my sisters recently said to me “you told him what?!?” because the things that most women share with there mom or girlfriends I share with my pops, I shared many sobs & many laughs with him, the ups and downs that women go through……He never steers me wrong and is completely honest with me, at times the truth is hurtful but it has always made me stronger…….Pops, raised us to be a strong and independent woman, but not so strong where a man feels like you have no use for him……I LIKE THAT!!! Pops loves his girls, and makes that clear to anyone that may attempt to cause us heart ache or harm…..he has always provided for his family, mentally, physically and emotionally, and even in the tough moments there was never a doubt in my mind of his love for me……..I say it loud and proud, I’m Soooooo BLESSED GOD gave me a father do over! THANKS GOD!!
Pops and I to this day share our alone time together…….I remember everyday I’d go over to my folks house and have coffee at four o’clock and even when I gave up coffee we kept our four o’clock date, pops and I would take a daily ride with each other, just to talk, my mom always got our relationship, I think it made her heart smile that we were so close…….when I go home to visit, everyone knows pops and I are going to dip out and take “our ride”……Truth be told the hardest thing for me leaving CT was pops and my time together would be no more……..it hit us both pretty hard….still bothers me at times to date……then I think back on all of our precious moments together and with a smile in my heart I accept that we are still creating memories, just in a different way…...Today as we laughed and reminisced about life, I could hear and feel him smiling on the other end…..at one point my mom got on the phone and we began to chat a bit longer than pops wanted, I hear him in the back round saying to my mother “you’re hogging up my time with Toni”, “It’s Fathers day”, Lol…..mom and I laughed and she said “let me give the phone back to your dad, he’s about to have a fit over here”…….LOL!! I LOVE MY POPS!!
HAPPYFATHERS POPS DAY!!
Peace,
T
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| Me & The BEST POPS a girl could ask for!! |
Forty One years ago GOD granted me the BEST do over EVER!! He blessed me with my beautiful dad, father, POPS! My pops is the most important man in my life, people say a woman wants a man just like her dad, I’d have to agree with that except I don’t want a man JUST like my pops, but one with his CHARACTER is a must!
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| My COOL Pops! Back in the day... |
My mother got divorced when I was very young, then she met my pops, from the age of three my pops became my dad, father and confidant………Most people I know aren’t so lucky to get a do over when it comes to a parent, but GOD knew the combination of pops & I was one that was meant to be.......from the beginning our bond was tight……pops and I would hang out in the kitchen where he’d cook up the best batch of homemade French fries and we’d sit there just the two of us and eat and talk, I was about four years old when I convinced him to let me sip a bit of his coffee (our secret), it was just a sip, but a sip I’ll never forget, to this day that‘s the best coffee I ever tasted…..My pops & I became two peas in a pod, every room he went into I was sure to follow, when he worked the overnight shift I’d stay awake or wake up as soon as he walked through the door, then leap out of bed and head into the kitchen sit down, talk and eat as the rest of the house slept…….I have vivid memories of those moments.
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| Pops LOVES his girls!! |
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| Pops LOVES his girls!! |
I called pops this morning to wish him a happy fathers day, as we began reminiscing, pops reminded me of my pure stubbornness as a child, truth be told I knew if I pouted or dropped a few tears, I’d get exactly what I wanted, so to say I was a bit spoiled by him is a understatement…….I can recall at sixteen I decided I wanted a to learn how to drive, I initially signed up for drivers Ed, but one day on the road with the instructor I quickly decided I wanted my pops to teach me how to drive instead, I enter the house lip out and tears waiting to fall as I explained to pops that the driving instructor was not nice to me (yes he was), I told pops I didn’t want to go back…….mom was like “it’s paid for” I just stood there eyes welling up and just before the first tear dropped my pops said “I’ll teach you baby”…..Tee-hee. You’d think that would be the end of it…..NOPE…..after a few bumps in the road (literally), I obtained my license. The deal was I’d save money and by or contribute to buying my first car…….well saving for car was beginning to interrupt my shopping money....lol... and I was quickly becoming tired of taking the bus, as the majority of my friends had cars, so I begin to mope around my folks with the sob story of how EVERYONE else has a car and I don’t…..Moms was not tryin’ to hear my sob story…..Lol…..and pops of course agreed with mom….”save your money Toni, and you can get a car” is what I recall them saying…..Humph! I thought……gotta talks to pops when moms is not around.
One fine summer Friday I dressed for a job interview, headed out to catch one of two buses that would take me there, silently complaining within’…….once on the bus a very stinky man sat next to me, I was extremely annoyed and said to myself “I’m not taking the bus anymore!” …….with no money saved, I enter our home later that day and say to my folks “I’m NOT taking the bus again”, I think moms left the room, because the next thing I remember I began crying like someone tried to kill me….Lol…taking long gasp between each word adding in a tremor or two as I told pops about the stinky man who sat next to me and how I smelled stinky like him long after I got off the bus, I begged pops not to let me get back on the bus……..Monday I had a car!! Pops don’t like tears…..Lol…Along with the car came more work for pops…..Every time I had a flat, I’d call pops…..one day he had enough, and took me outside to teach me how to change a tire, and as I half paid attention to his lesson, he looked up at me and asked, “Toni, you paying attention?” “Yes” I said, then added “but it’s not like I’m ever going to change one, I’m gonna call you!”……Lol….Pops did not laugh, he shook his head and gave me the lecture about being independent, and how it’s not safe for a woman not to know how to change a tire especially me, because I was working overnight shifts driving 30 miles on the Merritt Parkway……..blah, blah, blah!!! Is all I heard…..”OK pops” I said….truth is I learned how to change a tire that day, along with getting a life lesson on being independent…..truth I really do know how to change a tire if ever in a pinch, but the other truth is people get paid to do that, and enjoy doing it…….Soooooo, I’ve never changed one, I’ll leave a car on the side of the road before I change a tire, to ME that’s man's work……Lol….But serious!!
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| Me & Pops Muwahhhh!! |
One fine summer Friday I dressed for a job interview, headed out to catch one of two buses that would take me there, silently complaining within’…….once on the bus a very stinky man sat next to me, I was extremely annoyed and said to myself “I’m not taking the bus anymore!” …….with no money saved, I enter our home later that day and say to my folks “I’m NOT taking the bus again”, I think moms left the room, because the next thing I remember I began crying like someone tried to kill me….Lol…taking long gasp between each word adding in a tremor or two as I told pops about the stinky man who sat next to me and how I smelled stinky like him long after I got off the bus, I begged pops not to let me get back on the bus……..Monday I had a car!! Pops don’t like tears…..Lol…Along with the car came more work for pops…..Every time I had a flat, I’d call pops…..one day he had enough, and took me outside to teach me how to change a tire, and as I half paid attention to his lesson, he looked up at me and asked, “Toni, you paying attention?” “Yes” I said, then added “but it’s not like I’m ever going to change one, I’m gonna call you!”……Lol….Pops did not laugh, he shook his head and gave me the lecture about being independent, and how it’s not safe for a woman not to know how to change a tire especially me, because I was working overnight shifts driving 30 miles on the Merritt Parkway……..blah, blah, blah!!! Is all I heard…..”OK pops” I said….truth is I learned how to change a tire that day, along with getting a life lesson on being independent…..truth I really do know how to change a tire if ever in a pinch, but the other truth is people get paid to do that, and enjoy doing it…….Soooooo, I’ve never changed one, I’ll leave a car on the side of the road before I change a tire, to ME that’s man's work……Lol….But serious!!
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| I LOVE THIS MAN!! |
I can recall in 1994 my pops was diagnosed with cancer, the doctors told him he had three months to live…….the women in his life (mom, me & my four sisters) were devastated and just about ready to come undone……It was pops who held it together, who refused believe that life would end in three months, instead he took the most positive spin on his cancer diagnosis and requested that we do the same……I’ve gotta admit I was not into positive living back then, so this diagnosis scared me, made me angry, I asked and begged GOD to take cancer away from my pops, why my pops, please GOD please make it someone else’s pops! Just not mine……..Pops went into remission for fourteen years, then the ugly cancer came back with a vengeance, leading to my father loosing his ability to speak without the use of a voice box……..I remember him going in for surgery, and when he came out, the realization hit me that pops would never say my name the same way again, that pops would not speak for a long time to come........Not my pops though, he was determined, and with positivity and a smile he embraced his new way of communicating…….You see, my dad was known for his unique sounding voice, all of our friends loved to hear pops talk, he had a Wolfman Jack sound to his voice, and would gladly talk for anyone that wanted to hear it. I cried nightly that my pops would never sound like that again……Pops didn’t allow negative talk around him, he encouraged us and showed us the power of positivity, and spirituality……I honored his wishes of positivity, but when I was all alone I’d call his cell phone daily just to hear his voice on his voice mail, the voice I so dearly missed and wanted to hear again…….That was just about 10 years ago……I called his cell phone today, that same message remains......
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| Ben & Bo (mom & pops) Back in the day |
My pops is the man I go to with my questions and concerns about my relationships, life, and concerns, my good and bad times. I often say to him “you tell mommy, OK“…..One of my sisters recently said to me “you told him what?!?” because the things that most women share with there mom or girlfriends I share with my pops, I shared many sobs & many laughs with him, the ups and downs that women go through……He never steers me wrong and is completely honest with me, at times the truth is hurtful but it has always made me stronger…….Pops, raised us to be a strong and independent woman, but not so strong where a man feels like you have no use for him……I LIKE THAT!!! Pops loves his girls, and makes that clear to anyone that may attempt to cause us heart ache or harm…..he has always provided for his family, mentally, physically and emotionally, and even in the tough moments there was never a doubt in my mind of his love for me……..I say it loud and proud, I’m Soooooo BLESSED GOD gave me a father do over! THANKS GOD!!
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| Me & my Pops |
Pops and I to this day share our alone time together…….I remember everyday I’d go over to my folks house and have coffee at four o’clock and even when I gave up coffee we kept our four o’clock date, pops and I would take a daily ride with each other, just to talk, my mom always got our relationship, I think it made her heart smile that we were so close…….when I go home to visit, everyone knows pops and I are going to dip out and take “our ride”……Truth be told the hardest thing for me leaving CT was pops and my time together would be no more……..it hit us both pretty hard….still bothers me at times to date……then I think back on all of our precious moments together and with a smile in my heart I accept that we are still creating memories, just in a different way…...Today as we laughed and reminisced about life, I could hear and feel him smiling on the other end…..at one point my mom got on the phone and we began to chat a bit longer than pops wanted, I hear him in the back round saying to my mother “you’re hogging up my time with Toni”, “It’s Fathers day”, Lol…..mom and I laughed and she said “let me give the phone back to your dad, he’s about to have a fit over here”…….LOL!! I LOVE MY POPS!!
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| Noah Henderson Cox.....My POPS!! |
HAPPY
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| Peace, Love & Happy Y'all! |
T
1 comment:
This is just wonderful, Toni!! Aren't the two of you just so lucky. What a wonderful tribute to your Pops on Fathers Day!!! xoxoxox
Marris
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