FATHER’S DAY 2021
Pop wasn’t the kind of dad who gave a lot of hugs and
said, “I love you” very often. In fact, he seldom did those 2 things, but he
DID show me love in the language he knew best; he showed me almost on the daily
the time and energy he was willing to spend on me.
He helped my sister and me gather straw and put it in
water to “ferment”, and then we looked at it under the microscope taking daily
samples to see what going on in the murky water. It was like a microcosm of the
universe in a drop of liquid. One celled animals developed, then new ones came
in, and the first ones preyed on the second until the third group followed and
did the same. Eventually all the living things were gone.
Pop showed us how to grow an organic garden without using
pesticides, and gave us the knowledge to make compost. We were allowed to grow pollywogs
we got from the pond to grow them until they became frogs. Those weren’t the
only animals from the wild we were allowed to have; we had lizards and snakes,
too. We learned the value of each creature in nature and learned to be
respectful and reverent of all living things. “Everything has a purpose on
Earth.”
He was a huge fan of conservation before conservation was
a thing. He joined clubs like the Jacques Cousteau Society to protect nature’s
creatures.
As I have probably said before of him, he was a bit of an
odd ball. Our freezer became his animal lab. He found a dead hawk, or maybe it
was an owl alongside the road. He picked it up and put it in the freezer until
he could turn it over to the Rapture Center for them to examine. Turns out it’s
actually illegal to remove feathers or other parts of a bird of prey, so it’s a
good thing he preserved it for them.
He dug up an ant hill, put it in a plastic bag in the
freezer to keep until he could make the framed glass ant farm for the oldest
nephew. It would have worked out fine if he had been able to get the queen, but
unfortunately, the ants did not make it.
There were other road kill entries into the freezer hall
of fame, so it was with caution that anyone lifted that freezer lid since we
never knew what was in there.
Pop loved math. He thought it was fun. My sister and I
did not inherit that ability. Pop tried to teach me my multiplication tables
and I’m certain he found that exhausting. Later, when I became a critical care
nurse, his teaching about setting up algebraic equations came in very handy.
Calculators had finally come into being by then. To show his pride in my work
he gave me my first little calculator to keep in my pocket so I could calculate
mixing and dispensing cardiac drugs. That was his “I love you” gift. He also
gave me a Littman Master’s stethoscope when I passed the Coronary Care Curriculum
to get into Coronary Care—another “I love you and I’m proud of you gift.”
Because Pop was a meteorologist, he was asked from time
to time by our teachers to come to our classes and teach about the weather. He
didn’t mind taking the time to do that for us and I think he actually enjoyed
it. He taught my sister and me all about pressure areas, cold and hot fronts,
and different cloud formations. Later, when he retired from the U.S. Weather
Bureau and worked at WSOC TV, he worked with the filming crew to create little
documentaries about wildlife and nature. I think that was something he really
enjoyed doing.
He was a big personality with a quirky sense of humor. I
often went to him for advice on how to negotiate through life, and he always
had something helpful to say to get me through. He died August 16, 1981 while
he was touring the entire East Coast. While in Wilmington, NC, my favorite
town, he had a ruptured aortic aneurism and was gone within 32 hours.
I miss him. I will always miss him. He was a great dad
and I was lucky to have had him. He was like a harbor I could sail to in times
of trouble. On this coming Father’s Day I honor my dad, James William McNeal. I
love you, Pop.
Author
of Heartwarming Stories
Fantasy and Dreams
(sarahmcneal.blogspot.com)
