Flashback Friday

This is my dad's senior picture.

Oh my god, you're saying. Did we just flash back to 1961? Natalie wasn't even alive. What could this be about? Well, it's not really related. I just like that picture. I think my dad looks handsome. And armless.

Here's my dad some years later when Spencer was 3 days old.

OK. Here is the real picture for today's flashback. My dad had double coronary artery bypass surgery on December 19, 1998. This is the day he came home from the hospital. I was at home for winter break when he had the surgery and I made him watch Dirty Dancing with me every day for like 3 weeks. It's amazing he didn't end up having a heart attack after the surgery.

He wasn't allowed to go back to work for something like 3 months. I would take the bus home every day that I didn't have afternoon classes and spend the afternoon with him. Much like I did when nursing Spencer, my dad spent a lot of time watching TV during his rehab.

It was the first time in his life that he was home to watch daytime TV and something really unfortunate happened: he got a little bit addicted to Martha Stewart Living. To this day he will deny this, but it is true. He puts on a good poker face when asked about Martha, but if hooked to a lie detector machine he would probably be forced to share her recipe for Lemon Meringue Pie.

So, one day I was upstairs watching Martha Stewart. My dad was downstairs doing something. I wasn't sure what. The show was all about how to season cast iron. It involved some process with olive oil and salt. The show ended and several minutes later my dad came upstairs. He started pulling out all the cast iron pots and pans, the salt and the olive oil.

Here is a recap of our conversation.

Me: What are you doing?

Dad: I thought I'd season the cast iron.

Me: Were you just downstairs watching Martha Stewart Living?

Dad: (Deer in Headlights)

Me: You were. You were watching Martha Stewart Living.

Dad: No. I just decided, on a whim, with no other influence whatever, that the cast iron that has never been seasoned needs to be seasoned.

Me: Liar!

My dad not so secretly harbors a desire to be called up by the Obama Administration and offered a job. If, in some sort of weird twist of fate he was offered a job by President Obama and Martha Stewart he'd probably have to sit down and make a list of pros and cons for both. And Martha would probably win.

This will not be the last Flashback Friday about my dad. There are just too many good stories. And yes, daddy, I'm talking about the crab salad.