The very first camera I owned was a small Kodak Brownie camera that took black and white pictures. I was so proud of that camera. My love affair with cameras has progressed to a Cannon A1 35mm camera and my current Cannon Power Shot digital camera. Several years ago Kodak had an advertising campaign that talked about Kodak moments. Moments that have been preserved by photographs. Life has a way of giving us “Kodak moments” in our heads. Today, on Father’s Day, my mind is doing its own slide show of Kodak moments regarding my Dad.
Dad and I shared a love of history and ancient buildings. When we lived in New Mexico, when I was a small child, we would take weekend trips to the Indian ruins that doted that area of the state. No one else was really enthusiastic about Dad’s hobby but me but Dad and I shared that feeling of history surrounding us. My favorite trip was when we actually saw the cliff dwellings of the legendary Ansazi. When we moved to California our favorite haunts were the California Missions. I can still see Dad and I taking in the history and culture of ancient people and times. History and my Dad and I share a lot of Kodak moments.
Dad was fascinated by genealogy and he and I would visit the various cemeteries where ancestors were buried when I made my visits to Indiana after he and Mom moved back here. I can see the look on his face as he found the gravestone he was looking for and the excitement as he would tell me who this person was and how he or she fit into the family history. It is that look of excitement at connecting to the past that is my Kodak moment.
It was a different look that I remember when I had an extra ticket to see John Denver and asked Dad if he wanted to go. I had no idea that he even liked John Denver and thought he was just being nice and giving me a ride. It turned out that he loved his music and especially the music that celebrated nature. The look on his face as we were driving home as he thanked me for bringing him to the concert will always be with me. The tearing of his eyes and mine as we shared a love of music is my Kodak moment.
My Dad loved cross word puzzles and he was so certain of the answers that he did his in pen and ink. At our house in Livermore, California he had built a wall to ceiling bookcase and next to it was his favorite recliner. At that time I had a huge red-orange cat named Zonker. Zonker jumped up on the arm of the chair and reached over and knocked my Dad’s pens onto the ground and then jumped down. The look of amusement on my Dad’s face as he called after the cat “feel better now?” will always be my Kodak moment.
When I was getting married my parents came out from Indiana to the wedding. I remember going for the final fitting on the wedding dress. I came out of the dressing room to show Mom and Dad and Dad started crying. I remember the owner of the wedding shop handing my Dad a box of Kleenex and patting him on the shoulder and saying that Dads always did that. That is a Kodak moment to treasure.
But my favorite moments were those times when my Dad’s face took on a look of almost childish delight. He loved showing me around the Conner’s Prairie Village Historical Park here in Indiana that showed life in the 19th century. I remember the boyish glee when we visited Howard Hughes’ famous “Sprouse Goose” or the Abraham Lincoln audiomarionotronic’s at Disneyland. Or the amusement as he tried to see it all at a Renaissance Faire. Kodak moments of the joy on the face of a man who always remained a kid at heart.
Although Dad has been gone for ten years now as long as I can see the moments of my life with my Dad in my mind he will never be gone. This picture called “Behind the Falls” was done from a memory of another Kodak moment with Dad when he and I took a nature hike up in Oregon and came to a grotto that was behind a waterfall where we could see out through the water. Nature and Dad and I have a ton of moments like these.
Happy Father’s Day, Dad. Thanks for the memories.
Dad and I shared a love of history and ancient buildings. When we lived in New Mexico, when I was a small child, we would take weekend trips to the Indian ruins that doted that area of the state. No one else was really enthusiastic about Dad’s hobby but me but Dad and I shared that feeling of history surrounding us. My favorite trip was when we actually saw the cliff dwellings of the legendary Ansazi. When we moved to California our favorite haunts were the California Missions. I can still see Dad and I taking in the history and culture of ancient people and times. History and my Dad and I share a lot of Kodak moments.
Dad was fascinated by genealogy and he and I would visit the various cemeteries where ancestors were buried when I made my visits to Indiana after he and Mom moved back here. I can see the look on his face as he found the gravestone he was looking for and the excitement as he would tell me who this person was and how he or she fit into the family history. It is that look of excitement at connecting to the past that is my Kodak moment.
It was a different look that I remember when I had an extra ticket to see John Denver and asked Dad if he wanted to go. I had no idea that he even liked John Denver and thought he was just being nice and giving me a ride. It turned out that he loved his music and especially the music that celebrated nature. The look on his face as we were driving home as he thanked me for bringing him to the concert will always be with me. The tearing of his eyes and mine as we shared a love of music is my Kodak moment.
My Dad loved cross word puzzles and he was so certain of the answers that he did his in pen and ink. At our house in Livermore, California he had built a wall to ceiling bookcase and next to it was his favorite recliner. At that time I had a huge red-orange cat named Zonker. Zonker jumped up on the arm of the chair and reached over and knocked my Dad’s pens onto the ground and then jumped down. The look of amusement on my Dad’s face as he called after the cat “feel better now?” will always be my Kodak moment.
When I was getting married my parents came out from Indiana to the wedding. I remember going for the final fitting on the wedding dress. I came out of the dressing room to show Mom and Dad and Dad started crying. I remember the owner of the wedding shop handing my Dad a box of Kleenex and patting him on the shoulder and saying that Dads always did that. That is a Kodak moment to treasure.
But my favorite moments were those times when my Dad’s face took on a look of almost childish delight. He loved showing me around the Conner’s Prairie Village Historical Park here in Indiana that showed life in the 19th century. I remember the boyish glee when we visited Howard Hughes’ famous “Sprouse Goose” or the Abraham Lincoln audiomarionotronic’s at Disneyland. Or the amusement as he tried to see it all at a Renaissance Faire. Kodak moments of the joy on the face of a man who always remained a kid at heart.
Although Dad has been gone for ten years now as long as I can see the moments of my life with my Dad in my mind he will never be gone. This picture called “Behind the Falls” was done from a memory of another Kodak moment with Dad when he and I took a nature hike up in Oregon and came to a grotto that was behind a waterfall where we could see out through the water. Nature and Dad and I have a ton of moments like these.
Happy Father’s Day, Dad. Thanks for the memories.
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