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Father's Day isn't usually a big day in my book, but I have a story to share. My parents have been divorced for 20 years, and my Dad lives in another state. So yesterday my sisters and I took my mother out for sushi. Mom rode with me alone on the way home. Even after all these years my mothers favorite topic is complaining about my father.
"Your father's side of the family is bats**t crazy." My mom says.
What she says next has me calling up my dad as soon as I got home.
"You and grandpa built Tesla coils in the basement to scare grandma?!" I screamed.
"Yep." Dad says. "Jacobs ladders too. Do you know what those are?"
"Yes, dad, I know what those are. So you're telling me you had a mad scientist lab in the basement?"
I hear my dad take a long drink. Probably something with vodka in it.
"Kids didn't have much to do back then. We had to make our own toys. We'd make racecars out of oatmeal boxes and rubberbands. Heck, I made radio and TV transmitters so when the neighbors started blaring their awful music I could broadcast the Beatles on every station so I didn't have to listen to it. Screwed with their TV reception too. I could see them beating on the box from my bedroom. Drove them crazy."
"So why didn't you teach me any of this dad?"
Dad was quiet a moment. Then:
"You had girl scouts and softball....."
"Those didn't exactly teach me any real-world skillsets dad."
My dad is so cool.
And that's where I get my evil from.
Isn't it crazy some of the things you learn about your parents?
Anyone else want to share their day or any awesome dad stories? I know I'm not the only one.

Well my father was an artisan (Diamond setter, jewelery manufacture), and generally good with his hands and tools. He originally wanted to be an auto mechanic. I must have inherited some of that, because I love building all sorts of things. I once made a Jacobs Ladder out of an old auto ignition coil and a 'doorknob' power transistor from an old car radio. I also built a radio transmitter as a kid using some old 6F6G power tubes and a coil wound on an empty tube from toilet paper. I heard it for blocks away from the house as it was hooked up to a phonograph. I think I was playing "the Doors" first album at the time. I later got my ham license, built many 'Heathkits' (including a color TV). My father supported all that. I also have built furniture, including several chests of drawers (with some help from Norm Abrams of the New Yankee workshop). But it wouldn't have ever happened if my father hadn't shared his love of tools with me as a kid.

I visited my dad's grave yesterday. This was the 1st time I had seen it, & though I knew my dad was in the Philippines during the Korean war, I never knew he was a Corporal. I had seen a few snapshots of him and his buddies, but he never really said much about his military service, other than that he was a telephone lineman.

My dad is from the Bronx in NYC, and he has some fun stories. He told me he used to make zip guns from wooden hangers. My dad was (and still is) crazy.
But I love him

I woke up in someone else's apartment. After he bought me coffee, I decided it was time to go home and do some laundry.
I didn't even realize it was father's day till now.

I don't have a father so it was just another day for me.