Trees

June 7, 2010

My Uncle Phil told this story at the family reunion this past weekend.  It's also a favorite of Nancy's.

There had been a storm at my parents’ house and a favorite tree of Dad’s had been severely damaged. One of the little kids from the neighborhood was outside looking at the tree and was heard to say, “You know what Mister Millen’s going to say? He’s going to say ‘I hate to lose that goddamned tree!’”

A while later my Dad came out of the house, looked at the tree and was overheard saying “I hate to lose that goddamned tree!”

. . .
Dad used all the words in the dictionary, even when he shouldn’t.
. . .

My mom tells a similar story about my dad, perhaps from another storm. There was a severe storm which had left debris all over my parent’s yard and had topped a large tree. A little kid from the neighborhood was standing outside looking up at the damaged tree. My dad came out of the house and stood next to the kid. The kid said, “Don’t look at me, mister. I didn’t do it!”