Dear ol' Dad

My dad is a character. That statement essentially means that I think he is strange, silly, weird and crazy, but sometimes downright hilarious. Some would say he is eccentric. I think that would be going easy on him.

The strange thing about my dad is that most people think he is super polite, reserved, quiet and gentle. They have been duped. He is a wonderful man, but not really specializing in the subdued area.

Let me preface the following dad encounter by saying I am an only child. As in, I should be the only one calling him Dad.

In the last few years, he has started answering my parents' home phone with a hearty, loud, and slightly insane, "heeelllllOOOOooo!?!". It kind of sounds like a party animal at a frat party answering the phone, not a 69 year old retiree.

Oh yeah, I forgot to mention that he answers on speaker phone with tv(s) blaring in the background. I think it is too much trouble for him to pick up the receiver between all the multi-room tv watching.

I called my parents' house the other day because I wanted to ask my mom a question. I always call her cell phone first to avoid any crazy phone answering antics from my dad. But on this day, I had no choice. She wasn't answering the cell phone.

It played out like this:

Phone Ringing....

Dad answering ringing phone: "heeelllllOOOOooo!?!"

Me: "Hey, Dad!"

Dear ol' Dad: "Hello????" (normal people tone and sounding QUITE confused as to who was calling)

Me: "Hey, Dad, it's me."

Dear ol' Dad: "Oh hey, I didn't know who it was!!!"

Huh?

Again, I am an only child.

Or, so I thought.