One Man’s Delight/#1LinerWednesday

My Dad’s birthday was Monday. He would have been 85. It’s been nearly a year since he passed. There is just so much to miss about the enigmatic hero that he was in my life. The one certain thing he gave us was love. I knew he loved me, always. From bringing me tinkling glasses of ice water in the middle of the night to teaching me how to shoot hoops or spin a boy’s football yoyo I got during the gift exchange at school because they ran out of ‘girl gifts’. 🤦‍♀️ I could write a book (someday I will) about my life with Daddy, but for now I just want to honor him with something he loved most. Fun, whimsy and humor. 

One of my favorite memories of him is of us sitting on the front porch at my Grandpa’s house up in Mountain Home, Arkansas where we went every Summer for vacation. Our legs dangled over the edge of the warm wood and the night was dark but for the stars and fireflies-so many fireflies to chase! He was singing his repertoire of little ‘ditties’ to my brother and I.  Right now I can only recall his favorite from the Wright Root Beer commercial which later became swallowed up when Frank Wright joined with Roy Allen to form A&W. You can research it if you like but there is precious little to be found about Wright’s business, based out of New Orleans, LA. They also brewed and distributed Dr Nut, which was available until around 1970. Despite an exhaustive search I could not find an audio for this jingle but here are the words as I recall:

Wright root beer, Wright root beer, 

The best drink in town..

Open a bottle

(finger in cheek he makes a ‘pop’ sound)

and drink it on down.

It’s tasty, delicious and flavorful too,

Wright, root beer, Wright root beer,

the best drink for you. 

There were others but I can’t remember anything but the delight these times brought to me. He also sang ‘Kaw liga’ and ‘I’m So Lonesome I Could Cry’ to me. But his favorite ballad back then was ‘Running Bear’. Here are some of my memories. I’ll always miss you, Daddy. 🤗❤️

And then there was his love for the Man in Black. He and my Mom both loved John and June, and when someone bought him John’s ‘Folsom Prison Blues’ album for Christmas, we listened to it all day long. This was the family favorite. 

If I could have one more day….💔