Bro Jeep, Jeep Li, "Quite A..."

With Father's Day coming I thought it fitting to sit and reflect on who my Dad is. Sometimes, I wonder if we are actually related and then I look at my wide feet, short stature, bad eyes and realize, that yes, I am in fact one of his. It seems that the physical traits that I dislike the most about myself seem to have resulted from Mom's wussy genes giving up to Dad's and saying, "okay okay you win,.... again, our child can have your thin hair, fine, but don't say I didn't warn you."

This is not to say that Dad doesn't have a fist load of amazing qualities, it just seems that he was unable to pass the most desirable ones on to me. I I often tease him that all of my bad traits I got from him, which we all know is a lie because I got my attitude from Mom, but graciously, he never points this out.

One of the things that amazes me about my Dad is his ability to talk to anyone and everyone (and enjoy it!). He truly enjoys getting other people going and unlike me, new people don't make him the least bit nervous. To him they are an opportunity to make someone laugh. One of the ways that Dad connects with people is to give them a name. He has several names for himself, but also nicknames most of the people that he meets. This is a little about my Dad and his "names."

With all of my Dad's pseudo names you would think that he worked for the CIA instead of the railroad. Jeep, Bro Jeep, Jeep Li, "Quite A," are all things that he responds to. He doesn't do well with anything formal, Mr. Labberton never has suited him, neither does his given name of James Theodore. If you have never heard the story about how my Dad came to be called Jeep ask me, or him, about it, it will make you smile. But as for the other names that he has acquired...

One night I walked into his bedroom and he looked at me and said, "I'm thinking about changing my name." Hmmm...why would a man that doesn't even go by his real name need to change it now that he's 54 years old? Okay. He goes on to explain to me that he's "thinking of changing it to 'Quite A'...because he is 'Quite a Catch'." I about died laughing. Does he really lay awake at night and think of these things?

When he is BBQing he insists on being called "Bro Jeep," ironing and he's to be called "Jeep Li." Out of all of my Dad's silly names, I am thankful (despite my wide feet) that I am the one that gets to call him my Dad.