Toughy Huffy

     Well folks, this one will be a tough one.  I guess it's time a make a tribute to the man I lost three years ago today. my dad.  I spoke at his funeral, but the tears got in the way and choked me up through the whole speech.  So I'll try it again, knowing the tears will come but at least you can read through my tears better than the people at the chuch could listen through them at the service.  So here it goes.

     My dad was  a man who wore many hats, literally and figuratively.  In fact he pretty much had a different hat for every occassion.  He wore the hat of a father of 3, a hat of a husband of 1 for more than 50 years and several hats of the various occupations he held over the 78 years of his life.
    
     He was known for his hats.  He was never seen without one.  He wore the hat of a baseball coach as he worked with Jeff and me in the front yard.  He wore the hat of a farmer, any one of about 50 seed corn hats when he worked around his own farm or for the various other farmers in the San Jose area.  He even had a special starched engineer's hat he wore to work at Caterpillar for 34 years.  In fact we went to tour his building KK at East Peoria one Sunday for the open house that they had that day.  When he came into the plant with an ordinary baseball cap on no one could recognize him without his infamous engineer's hat on.

     Yes over the years he wore many hats.  The one I enjoyed seeing him wear the most was that of a father.  When I lost a father I also lost a friend.  Some one I could always lean on.  Some one I could always talk to.  Now I don't have him or his hats.  There are so many things in my life and my kids' life that he did not get to see.  My best consolation is knowing he now wears a crown of of salvation as he sits next to Jesus on his throne.  It's nice to know that some day I'll be able to see him again.  Maybe we'll go get a new hat so we can sit on a shore and fish together so I can catch him up on all those things he missed here on earth.  Although I'm sure it can't compare to things he could tell me about that I missed while he's been in heavan.