Sunday, June 15, 2008

My Dad is astonishing

My dad grew up in Washington State. Pearl Harbor was bombed the year he was born. My Grandma took a million pictures of him, his sister, and little brother . Grandma was a stay at home mom, and Grandpa worked for Grey Hound. Dad went to catholic school.

When my dad was a kid they only had a radio, and he still sings songs and jingles from that time occasionally, like; “Feed um Dr. Ross Dog Food, do um a favor. It’s got more beef and it’s got more flavor, Dr. Ross Dog Food is doggone good!” My dad is the kind of person who has a song for everything. He is a musical kind of person. My Dad is 6’3” and growing up, people always asked him if he played basketball. No, not basket ball, but he did play trumpet and first chair violin in High School.

Dad served in the Navy for 4 years. He worked a night job cleaning office buildings during that time too. He met my mom when he was stationed in California. They were both out dancing when they met.

My parents got married in Hawaii, lived in Arizona, and then traveled around the world for a while. They lived in Japan, and Australia. They decided they liked Hawaii the best out of all the places they had been so they moved to Oahu. They bought a sail boat, and then moved to the North Shore. I was born at Queen Kapiolani Hospital. Our back yard was the beach. My dad was a sales man, and did really well. He grew a garden in the sandy soil of our front yard using fish guts from the fishermen at the pier.

My parents bought some land on the Big Island. They moved to the Big Island when I was 4 years old. My parents rented a home while my dad built the start of a home on their land. He was working full time while building the house. To save money, we moved into the shell of the house, on one acre of land, without power, telephone, county water, or sewer. Dad built a composting toilet out of cement block, he built a water catchment system that collected rain water in a cement water tank he also built by hand, he set up some solar panels for power, and a solar water heater for bathing. Dad did all of this slowly using money saved, instead of taking a huge mortgage. My parents lived for about 27 years without paying a water bill or an electric bill!Many times when we were low on cash, we would forage for wild mango, strawberry guava, avocado,lychee, mountian apple,blackberries,ohelo berries, and coconuts.

Dad became a realtor when I was 8 and within a few years he became a member of the million dollar sales club. He is now a broker and owns Hawaii Land Realty Corp. in Hilo, Hawaii. My dad loves selling real estate, he likes living in Hawaii, he is a guitar and harmonica player, and music producer, but most of all He loves his Messiah.

Dad was a Hare Krishna for a while. One day, he took our car to a mechanic who lived nearby. When he got talking to him, the mechanic invited Dad to come to a Bible study he was having at his house. My dad thought he would go and argue about Christianity, but instead he became a believer in Jesus Christ. Since that time, about 26 years ago, he has been an avid student of the Scriptures. My dad has whole chapters of the Bible memorized. He had a prison ministry, he has a food ministry, and bible study for the homeless. Dad is the most generous person I know, and is constantly helping those in need. My Dad has encouraged me in so many ways, and was the first person to tell me about Jesus. Now he is the best Grandpa in the world too.

I wish he was running for president.


Don't send a lame Father's Day eCard.
Try JibJab Sendables!

1 comment:

Lovely Little Lovelies said...

What an amazing guy! It's unfortunate that men like your father are a dying breed. I enjoyed reading your father's story- thanks!