Growing Up

Dad never talked about my mother too much. Any questions I had, he answered with a short terse answer. Most everything I learned about her was from the people at Dad's work, who knew them from the time they met, to when they tied the knot.

Dad loved my mother very much; some say with every fiber of his being. He was always there for her, mo matter what.

When she became pregnant with me, Dad was ecstatic. He went out and bought everyone at the hotel that he and mother worked at cigars. He was the happiest man on the planet. When mother fell ill during labor, no one was prepared for what would come nor expecting it, mother passed away giving birth to me. Dad was lost for a bit after that I have been told. With no family to around to help to raise me and no money to afford daycare, Dad did the only thing that he could at the time, he took me to work.

Management was none too pleased with this to say the least. Dad heard it all, 'Work is no place for an infant', 'We do not have an employee daycare', 'How will you be able to work with a baby there all the time?' None of that mattered to Dad, he had no other choice. Everyday he would bring me in and set me beside his desk still strapped into the car seat. Sure my presence did become a distraction at times but Dad was not the only one I had an affect on, from the ladies at the front desk, to the housekeepers, everyone adored little ole me. Whenever Dad had to go off to a meeting, someone was always there to watch after me.

One time when I was about three, I caused quite a scare for the hotel for a couple of hours. Seemed Dad was busy getting some important work done and his employee that was around was off doing some other little project, so nobody noticed when I slipped away off to find my own adventure. My wandering took me to laundry where they were cleaning out the lint bins on the dryers and while no one was paying attention, I climbed in to hide. When Dad noticed I wasn't around, he was frantic to say the least. No one knew where I had gone nor had anyone noticed me during my walk. For two hours the hotel was turned upside down by everyone there. Never underestimate a father's resolve when searching for one of his own and don't get in his way. Every nook and cranny was searched, from my normal hiding places, to the least likely of spots. One thing was for certain, I was still in the back of the hotel and had not left out any doors to the outside as security had reviewed the video for Dad.

I wasn't discovered till one of the laundry ladies had heard a sneeze. Realizing that she was the only one in laundry, she commenced to looking around. I was apparently quite resolved in not being found as she was calling my name, not a peep would I make as the game was now afoot or at least to me it was. If it wasn't for another ill timed sneeze, my game may have gone on for a few more hours but alas, I was found; covered in head to to in lint. Dad was told I looked like some lint monster hiding underneath the dryer.

The General Manager was not amused with the loss of productivity that my absence and subsequent search had caused. Dad was told that if one more disruption like this occurred, that he would be forced to let Dad go. If Dad hadn't been such an outstanding employee, he would have been gone shortly after starting to bring me into work but management turned a blind eye, which caused him to be the envy of many of the employees that weren't as well liked by management.