Baseball

Does anyone remember playing baseball with dad in the backyard? Was I the only one he called "the windmill" because of how I would swing, miss and spin all the way around? Also....how many windows did we break on his poor shed?

Coloring

I was coloring with Jordyn on Saturday afternoon and it reminded me of coloring with dad. I have just vague memories of sitting and coloring with him, but vivid memories of his actual coloring pages. I can remember that he would outline the picture in the color first very dark and then he would fill it in with that color. He would push so hard and color it so dark. He would always make sure to rotate the crayon so that it wouldn't get dull, which he always reminded me to do as well. It's such a simple memory, but I just remember thinking that he could color better than anyone I knew! Of course, as his little girl, I pretty much thought that he was the best at everything he did! He reminded me of his coloring one day while we were having lunch at Russ'. Jace was coloring his picture and dad joined in. He wouldn't finish the picture though because he didn't have the correct color for some parts. It had to be the right color.

"I went tubing yesterday for the first time in a LONG time and it make me think of Uncle Rick. I remember how fast he would drive the boat and terrify us kids on the tube. He got such a kick out of making us flip off the tube. Great picture." Written by Sarah Beckham

Peaches & Cream

As I'm sitting here having my favorite summer treat tonight, I can't help but think of dad.  It was one of his favorites as well.  I'm enjoying some fresh cut peaches sprinkled with a little sugar on vanilla ice cream.  I keep hearing his voice over and over singing, "Peaches and cream; oh what a dream; just like strawberry wi-yine."  He sang that whenever we had peaches and ice cream (and probably many other times as well).  Missing him every day!

Happy 60th Birthday

It has been awhile since I’ve posted anything.  Life is become very busy with summer here and child number three arriving, but even with all the busyness of everyday life, I find myself thinking of dad a lot.  Sometimes the memories are of those last days when he was very sick and everything seemed so unfair.  Although those memories are sad, it was a growing point for me and my family’s faith in God.  It was a growing point in all of our lives and I find comfort in knowing that it was part of Gods plan for us.

The memories I truly relish are the good times I had with dad before the cancer, and if you haven’t noticed from this blog, dad created many great memories for all of his family and friends.  Because it is hard for me to get on the blog and post a memory as soon as I have it, Tammy gave me the good idea of putting a note of the memory in my phone and coming back and posting them later when I have time. 

The first note I have in my phone is the memory of shooting bats in our back yard off the roof of the house.  We did it a few times that I can remember but were only successful once.  Still sitting on that roof, throwing a sock with a tennis ball in it up in the air, and shooting at bats that swooped at it with a shotgun was a memory I will never forget.  Guess that’s where I got my redneck side from.

Second, I remember the times we would go to the warehouse at dads work in the winter and shoot our bows.  Dad would set up an old tack board behind the target in case there was a terrible shot that missed the target (which of course none of us ever made that terrible of shots).  We would scavenge the warehouse looking for things we could shoot.  It was usually plastic silverware or tacks.  Then we would see who could hit them first.  It was stupid but I loved it.

Third, I remember the trips to check the back on Sunday nights, when I was just a young boy.  Dad would have to do a walk through to make sure everything was in order and he would attempt to make it as scary as possible.  He even created a scary sound track for the walk through the tunnel (Do do….Do do….Do do).  He always made things so much fun for us kids.

Finally, I always enjoyed the random calls to see if I wanted to go to Gander Mountain.  Sometimes we would go with a purchase in mind and leave empty handed and other times we would go just to browse and leave with bags full of stuff, but no matter the outcome of our trip, we always enjoyed going and talking about our favorite hobbies (hunting and fishing). 

Even more than memories, I find myself having thoughts of how great it would be if dad was still around for certain things.  For example, dad would love to be able to help with projects at Chad’s new house and Tammy’s new house, he would love to see our pigs and help out with me and Chad’s hobbie farms, he would love to work on our old Case tractor with us (or at least give us grief), and most of all he would have loved to have met my new baby boy, Sullivan Richard.  I also miss being able to tap his knowledge when I have a project I want to do or when something breaks. 

The family got together on dads birthday at his grave site and it was just nice to pay our respects to the greatest man we’ve ever known.  I hope we continue to do this for years to come.  Maybe even share some good memories together (as if we don’t do that all the time anyway).

The Channel

Just a quick memory...

This weekend our family camped at the Holland State Park.  It brought back a couple of memories.

First, it reminded me of dad's complaining about having to go camp at the beach...even though I think he didn't mind it that much.  He just liked to give mom a hard time.

Second, I had a hard time walking past the channel without picturing dad sitting out there on one of the cement benches.  He could sit there for hours just watching the boats go in and out.  I don't think he ever got tired of sitting out at the channel.  I miss sitting there with him.

A Box Of Fun

Recently, I have been taking cardboard boxes home from work for our baby ducks and chickens to live in.  Before it becomes a place for our farm animals to stay, Rogue and Blair like to play in them like it is the greatest toy ever.  Seeing my girls have so much fun in a cardboard box reminded me of the time dad brought some huge boxes home from S2 Yachts (it may have been more than once but I was too young to remember all the details.  Tammy or mom may have a better memory of this story).   He set up the box in the basement and made a play house out of it with windows and a door.  I remember having a blast in that box. 

DAD-ISM'S

I wanted to do a post to remember some a dad's famous one-liner's and/or quotes.  Dad always had a good come back to anything you could say.  I'm not sure how he thought so quickly sometimes.  Here are some of my favorite "dad-ism's".  Please add to the list as I KNOW there are so many more!

• Are you going to make a career out of that?  (for example:  someone turning into their driveway slower than dad would like them to)
• Do you have a monopoly on that? (I was asked that question often during my teenage years while using the bathroom)
• It’s a 4-way stop, not a parking lot.
• Yuppies
• Some of us have to work for a living (said to us kids while we were playing and he was leaving for work)
• Are you fake the jakein’ it? (Said to us over and over whenever we stayed home from school sick.  Sometimes I even began to feel guilty that maybe I really wasn't sick)
• Life ain’t fair
• Even a blind squirrel finds a nut every now and then
• Close only counts in horseshoes and hand grenades
• Did you see that __________ (fill in whatever project he just did)?  That's darn nice!

Can't wait to see what everyone else comes up with!

Missing Rick!

    I think of Rick everyday.  I enjoyed taking him out for coffee to McDonalds the last few months of his life and taking him to the Holland pier to fish.
    I also appreciated that he took the time to fix my boat floor and fixed the wiring when he was getting so weak.  And the time he went with me and Larry to Silver Lake to fix the boat lift and he was upset that it took us so long to fix it.  He was always willing to help anyone and could fix anything. I miss him.   Dad Kleinheksel
  

Snowmobile prayers

As we have been snowmobiling lately, I remember the nights that Rick would be out there pulling the kids on the sled behind the snowmobile.  All I remember doing is praying that no one would get hurt. All I could hear was Andrew screaming all the time and I never knew if he was hurt or if  Rick was teasing him and making him chase the sled and then taking off just as he got close. That is what he did but poor Andrew was much younger and had a hard time running as fast as everyone else. Was I right?

Snowmobile (Part 2)

As I drove into mom's driveway yesterday, I noticed something was different (and no, I'm not talking about the chicken coop sitting on a trailer along with a hot tub turned on its side).  I noticed there was fresh fallen snow everywhere and the yard was untouched.  This is probably the first time that I have ever driven into dad and mom's yard after a snow fall and not seen snow mobile tracks.  It made me really miss dad.

I know we already had a snow mobile post, but dad loved snow mobiling so much that I am sure there must be more snow mobiling memories, good and bad.

I remember when we were younger, each winter a group of about 12 snowmobiles would show up at our house.  Dad would put his snow gear on and head out.  Him and the guys (I don't know who all came) would head out and snowmobile late into the night.

I remember riding with dad to grandpa and grandma Kraker's house and going inside to get warmed up and eat Doritos and Cheese Balls.  We would fly down the gravel road so fast (at least I thought it was fast at the time)!

I remember dad was always tinkering on or fixing a snow mobile.  I think he did more of that, the older us kids got.  We seemed to always be breaking something on them.  I can remember one time that Bryan and I went snowmobiling.  We were flying up and down the ditches out near 146th.  Bryan was following my tracks.  Apparently, I narrowly missed hitting a culvert.  Bryan wasn't so lucky.  He bent the front ski up and did some other damage.  We limped the sled home, having to stop every so often to put the spark plugs back on.  When we got home, dad was not there.  Bryan, thoughtful as he is, parked the sled right in the front yard in perfect view for dad to see as he drove in the driveway.  Bry and I went inside and waited for dad to come home, peeking out the kitchen window to see the expression on dad's face.  I don't remember what dad ever said to Bryan about it, but I do remember the expression on his face as he did a double take at the sled when he drove in the driveway was priceless!!  Poor Bryan....and dad, since he would be the one fixing it....again.

I know there must be more memories.....so please post them!  They make me smile :-)    Even the bad ones.

Snowplowing

    With all the snow plowers out and about today, this memory came back to me of Rick snow plowing for his Mom and Dad. Rick always loved to go out plowing, so seeing all the  plowers today was a little sad.  Rick would plow anyone and every ones driveway that he could find to do.
     I believe it was a Saturday afternoon. It had snowed quite a bit so we headed out to see whose driveway we could open up. First, we went to his Mom and Dads house. I went inside to have coffee with them.  As we sat by the table, we could hear Rick plowing and could see him from the window each time he shoved more snow away. There was a lot of cars that Rick had to wait for which always made him mad.  He just wanted to get the job done and wanted the whole road to himself.  As he sat in the driveway waiting for cars to pass a snowplow came through and threw a massive amount of snow right back into the driveway and right into the back window of his jeep. Now, the jeep he had then had a canvas top, so when the snow hit, it split the plastic open and threw the snow right through the window and it landed on  Ricks back. I can't even describe how funny it looked.  Not only did the snow hitting him make us laugh, but his shoulders dropped in disbelief as he realized what just happened.  I'm not sure we should have been laughing at him but just the way his shoulders dropped, we  knew what was going through his mind. I'm not sure who else was there that day, but I do remember laughing with them and yet, not wanting to go home with him because I was sure his day was ruined and he would be very crabby.
    Of course, if you knew Rick, he finished the job in his cold, snow filled jeep, and then went on to find more driveways to plow!

Little Green Guy

Mom reminded me of this one last night and I just had to post it!

 

I don't remember how old I was when this happened, but for a while when dad would tuck me in at night, he would always tease me about the "little green guy" in my closet.  I have no idea how this started.  But each night after he said good night to me, he would tell me he was going to say good night to the little green guy in my closet.  He would then open my closet door, peek his head in and say good night to this little green man.  He did it every night, never failed.

 

One night, mom decided that she would hide in my closet while dad tucked me in.  Of course, this was the night that he didn't mention the little green guy.  Dad didn't usually fall for jokes.  I figured he was on to us, but I nonchalantly said, "Aren't you going to say good night to the little green guy?"

 

He had no idea!  He proceeded to my closet...opened the door...peeked his head in...and then literally jumped a foot as mom jumped out at him.  I don't remember if dad laughed or was mad, but I remember that mom and I laughed and laughed!  We still laugh about it.

 

The next time dad tucked me in, I asked him, "Aren't you going to say good night to the little green guy."  He didn't skip a beat when he replied, "No, the last time I checked on him there was a big wart hog in your closet!"  I think that was the end of the little green guy living in my closet.  Poor dad!

Transition

Just wanted to share a short conversation that dad and I had this past summer.  It has helped me put things in perspective and brought me peace.

 

When dad was still working at Huntington and I was at the studio, we started a weekly lunch date at Franks.  Once he stopped working, we continued our weekly lunch at Russ'.  I really looked forward to our lunches together.  We would talk about everything from hunting/fishing (which was mostly me listening to dad) to projects dad thought Jer and I should do on our house to dad giving me advice on how to discipline our kids to how I should treat Jer.  I truly respected everything he had to tell me.

 

One Wednesday this past summer at Russ' (on the side without the phones of course), dad started a conversation about it not seeming fair how everyone around him was older and healthier and enjoying their food.  When I agreed with him that it didn't seem fair, he immediately replied, "It's not so bad.  I know where I'm going.  It's just this transition that sucks."

 

His words struck me and they still bring me comfort today.  I have never doubted that my dad was a Christian and that he loved God.  However, to hear him verbalize that he knew where he was going and to hear him refer to his experience as a "transition" brought me such peace.

 

This life is not the only thing....death is not the end....it is merely a transition to our everlasting, heavenly home.  Thank you dad for putting things in perspective.

Glass Half Empty

Dad is TEMPORARILY not with us anymore. At least not in the way that we would prefer. Thankfully this blog is here to help preserve memories of him, especially the things that we may have personally forgot. There have been several posts that have reminded me of things that I never would have remembered on my own.

Now that we are all parents too, we get to experience some of the same things that Dad did about 30 years ago. I often get in situations with my own kids that make me wonder, What would Dad have done? Just the other day my own kids helped bring back a small memory of Dad that will hopefully make you smile.

Sitting at the dinner table a couple of days ago, Elijah asked if I could pour him some juice. (Memories of Dad begin to stir) I grab the juice and proceed to pour a miniscule amount of juice into his cup. He looks at me like I'm crazy and asks for more. I poured a slight amount in his cup a couple more times until he gets annoyed. Then I proceed to fill his cup to the point that will make it impossible for him to get it to his mouth without spilling. I feel like that exact scenario was played out at every meal with Dad. And I think poor Tammy was almost always the victim.

I think one special thing about Dad was that a joke NEVER got old to him. Even if it hadn't produced a laugh in years, he would still proceed with his predictable joke and probably laugh at himself. Well it might have been awhile, but I think Dads old joke actually made me laugh once more.