My father, George Michael Sabo (1926-1985) was gone way too soon, as he was a heavy smoker. Aside from the cigarettes, I have lots of fun memories with him as I was growing up.

I have never liked to dance, but one of my most vivid and fun memories was Dad trying to teach me to dance when I was a little girl. He had a great method for teaching me the steps – I stood on his feet!

We danced to Al Jolson’s My Blue Heaven and all sorts of Mitch Miller and Perry Como songs.

 

I was clearly having a good time, so I’m not sure why I have never enjoyed dancing in later life – maybe because I have no sense of timing and rhythm!

One other strong memory I have of Dad is watching TV together. Our house on Summer Street in Passaic was small. The door seen in the dancing photo is the bathroom and immediately to the left of the door was the entrance into the kitchen. Just to the right of the sofa in that photo were the double sliding doors you can see in the TV photo.

Dad was sitting in Nammie’s (my 2x Great Grandmother) rocking chair and I was thrilled to have my own little rocker. The huge rectangular cube TV was on that little table in front of us. The thing behind the TV was actually the radiator and, looking back, I can’t imagine that the radiator did much to add to the life of our television!

However, Dad and I enjoyed a lot of TV shows together.

He was just past his 59th birthday when he passed away. Both of my parents were smokers and I was never successful convincing either of them to give up cigarettes. Dad would have been around many more years if he had.

Thanks for this week’s challenge, Randy, and Happy Father’s Day to all the dads out there.