"Buck up"

Another one of Daddy's sayings.  Didn't like this one too much. It meant, "Get over it, face it, and get through it".  It always came when I was facing something that scared me.  He knew he wouldn't be around for most of my life; he knew that from the time I was seven, so, as gentle and as kind of a father he was, he began to teach me strength at a young age.

 I was born a "fraidy cat".  I was scared that I would fall through the cracks on a dock..laughable to think of now, I was scared of jets flying overhead (there were lots of them where we lived), of just about everything... even his favorite pet Chihuahua named Fawn.  In my defense, she should have been named "TANK"!  But, having the patience of job, he tackled those fears with me, one by one, until I became independent, and unafraid.  He would tell me to "buck-up whenever I was afraid, and not wanting to dissapoint, I did.  

One of the last times he used that phrase on me was when I was 16, had just gotten my license earlier that day, and wrecked the family car by hitting a few parked cars.  I fell apart when I called to tell him.  I knew what I would hear on the other end of the pay phone and he did not fail me, "Buck-up, baby, I'll be right there."  He never got me out of the lesson, but he was never out of sight, watching, and waiting, and there when I needed him at the end of it all with open arms.

I have been blessed with wonderful men in my life. A Godly husband and sons.  But sometimes life gets the best of us, gets overwhelming, gets crazy, and you need someone to say,"Buck up baby, I'll be right there."  A reminder that you'll get through it, it'll be exhausting, but that there are open arms waiting at the other end.

 Daddy, you are gone, I miss you terribly, but you and I both know that Marty has had a tough job...but he has me figured out, and knows how to watch, wait and open his arms at the end of the day!

Thanks for making me "Buck up"