Like Father, Like Son

Let's see... my dad. There's so much that I can't get into it really!

He's nice and he helps me a little bit. He helps me get my clothes out and match them. He helps shave my face a little bit [grooms me]. Cause if he doesn't help; it might grow too long [and John does NOT like that] but sometimes I do shave myself. He also helps clean my hands and fingernails and stuff; clips them. He helps me health-wise, reminds me to take my medicine; helps me with my red drops at night in my left eye. He helps around the house a little bit... puts clothes in the drawer and does stuff in the kitchen like wash the dishes. He helps me know when it's time to get ready for church or choir. When we get ready to go out of town in general and when we go to family reunions or vacations like Florida or Lake Junaluska, he helps me get prepared for the weather [summer and winter]. Then after all that he helps everyone pack the car.

Also... when I was younger, I used to get good report cards I would get comic books as a treat and for doing good in school. Welp, I used to get those a long time ago, like in the 70s and I still collect them today... It's something that I still enjoy to this day. I used to go to school and I used to have a chart like with purple dots for good and yellow dots if you misbehaved and then if you were really bad, you'd get a red dot. And if I didn't behave in school, I couldn't get comic books or CDs. If I got all purples, he would take me to get these fun things. A couple of favorites I was into was well... y'all know I'm always into Marvel AND DC, like Spiderman, Hulk, Thor, Captain America and Iron Man. Those were my main thing, ‘cause they would always get them, hide them from me and then surprise me with them when I was good at school. They've [comic books have] got small print so I really just look at them and flip through the pictures.

Around the holidays, Dad helps mom decorate. He gets the harvest stuff out and the Halloween decorations. He would help get Christmas stuff out and we used to go to the Tree Farm to pick out Christmas trees. Now we still go and pick them out but go to the stores like Home Depot or Lowe's to find good ones. When we first started though, we used to go to the woods to get them... that's what I remember. Sometimes small trees, big trees, I really don't have a favorite one, and that is true, by the way... I liked them all.

When we get together for the holidays before we eat, Dad will pray, you know... say the blessing at the gatherings. The big ones are like Thanksgiving and Christmas. Christmas is a big one. That's Dad's birthday on Christmas Eve. We celebrate on that Day just before we get together in the living room as a family and read the Christmas Story from the Bible and The Night Before Christmas. We give him the big present for his birthday on Christmas and the smaller presents at night on his birthday before Christmas. And that's how we celebrate his birthday really... depending on what day of the week it falls, we just go by that... because sometimes if it's on a Sunday we'll go to church after we open presents but it just depends on the year whatever it falls on. And that's why I wanna wish him a happy birthday for his birthday blog.

What makes him my dad and different than other dads? [John laughs nervously....] He's different than other dads. I'll say that he's always there when I need him. He cares... He's a good person. He's a little stubborn, but he's good.

[Kristen asks, "Is that where you get it from?" John quickly replies with a grimacing smile as he nervously wrenches his hands, "Who me? No... no... I'm not stubborn."]

He's a good parent, good provider, hard worker, good at what he does (I know he misses working at the Post Office) and, well, he's just a nice guy... He's my dad!

~ John Joyner