Dad's Are No Joke

To start with, I am a New Zealander, so my dad is a New Zealand man. He was born in Te Awamutu, he went to university, and he was a good tennis player. He was also extremely good at snow skiing, as his mother was born near the Taranaki mountains. We visited this area when I was little and attended a reunion for the Fleming family in New Plymouth. The picture above is the Fleming family reunion. My Grandparents are in the front row.

He is an Aquarius with a Capricorn moon, so they are kind of strange. He cared about the community and helping others. He was a Lion club member, which is a charity in New Zealand and was the presidant, treasurer, or the secretary. They raise funds for a variety of things going on in the world, mainly world famine or disasters. He went to university and studied law, which he passed, and then he worked for his father's firm in Te Awamutu; Edmonds, Judd, Goldfinch, Story and Co. So he is clever. He was also kind and brought me my second horse when I was tweleve. My nana, dad's mother brought me my first horse. I called her Flicker. I named her after the American movie, about a wild horse. Dad helped me every weekend. As I proceeded to get quite good at riding, he took me hunting in the winter and to one-day events in the summer on my horse. Then I upgraded my horse, which he paid for; I also had tennis lessons, piano lessons, scuba diving, water skiing, and speech and drama lessons. We had home tutors, and the local priest came to talk about religion in our home. We were Catholic as dad's anscestory was Irish and English, but we lived in New Zealand.

He taught me how to do shadow-puppets on the wall, with his hands. And to pull one of his fingers off, he was a joker. He played practical jokes to make us laugh. He could yodlee and play jazz on the piano, which I asked him to teach me, he did. He loved to listen to music, jazz, attend the opera, ballet and symphony orchestra. He liked pop music; The Beegeez, and The Eagles.

He showed children things to make them laugh. He was not shy. He was so straight, happy, and kind someone to look up to. He brought, built, and owned big homes and did them up, and I was privileged to live in them. He provided tennis courts; and swimming pools, beach houses, trips overseas, and ski resorts in the winter. He was generous, and he loved to entertain with friends. We had famous people over to our house, manily sports people, he liked yachts. And he sponsored the whitbread race. He brought me my first car, which was a white honda. He drove Ford's.

He was a hunting and fishing man and would take his two boys with him, they had their own fishing rods, (fly fishing) and boats, to go sea fishing, and guns to go shooting wild things; ducks, pheasants, quail, muscovy ducks, and anything that flew that you were allowed to shoot. His dogs were called Bess, and Zack. A German short-haired pointer, bitch, and a Weimaraner, dog. I was allowed to go hunting, and fishing. I had to walk behind the men. I shot the gun at a few birds, but it really was not my thing. It all had to be above the law, and if it wasn't it wasn't allowed. We had to keep a high profile in our small community. As he was the solicitor of the community township.

He didn't have a middle name; it was just Michael Edmonds. He was a gentleman, and went to the gentlemens club. In town he worked out at the local gym. He told me to follow the greats, my aunts, nanas sister's, Betty and Ella. One was a librarian and the other was a nurse, and, to study history and read as many books as possiable. To do charity for others and work hard at school, so I could get a good job and settle down and have a family. He was strict on me, about manners, and we were taught to be polite and courteous to people. He taught me about men and love, and how to be kind to others. Wanted me to get married, while he was alive so he could give me away. He was nice to me, and I did love and appreciate my dad. I will try and fulfill his wants of me, and won't rest until I have succeeded. It was a good start in life, and I feel I have what I need to succeed. Now I must not let myself or him down. He passed away in 2020, which was a very sad event for the family. He will be missed by many especially his children and wife.