Embarrassing Since 1976

I never truly understood how crazy being a parent could make you until I became one.

You will go to great lengths to protect your child. And sometimes those great lengths wreak havoc on your child's "cool factor".

My dad used to embarrass his kids on a regular basis. Here is the short list:

Harassing folks at the Communist booth at the State Fair.

Harassing folks at the Democratic Party booth at the State Fair.

Hanging around the Expo building at the State Fair. Marveling Squeegees, Ginsu Knife Sets, or the hours upon hours spent watching the guys who were demonstrating their wood lathes. It was torture! Us kids would be itching to get to the fairway and risk violent projectile vomiting on the rides and there would be dad, face aglow, no doubt thinking of the projects he could turn out on a wood lathe. The only way to tear him away would be to mention the Oregon Dairy Farmer's Ice Cream stand - Dad has always been a sucker for a good Soft Serve ice cream.

Eating at Mo's at Otter Rock. Mo's at Otter Rock is the smallest of the Mo's locations. And, quite often, you'd have to squeeze in and sit family style with strangers. Dad would mortify us by shoehorning  us in next to some unsuspecting tourists from Lucerne or Tokyo and then order the "Family Trough" of Mo's Slumgullion. 

Picking us up from church dances. Think having to dance with awkward teenage boys is the pinnacle of embarrassment? Try having your dad show up 20 minutes before the dance ends and stand against the wall of a multicultural room with a shearling lined coat, the bottoms of his silky pajamas, and his Ugg boots (way before they were popular, people). To add insult to injury, he'd make you sit in the front seat and your boyfriend sit in the backseat of the yellow VW van. 

Yeah, it was surely life altering. 

I never understood why my dad had to be so embarrassing. 

Until now. 

I get it. 

Thanks, Dad!