A strange thing to remember on Father's Day 2019

This Father's day, I have been thinking of my father, Anna. Not that I haven't been thinking of him and my mother on and off. I have and I do. 

There are literally thousands of things that remind me of my parents, who are both dead and gone. Sometimes its a smell, or a color, or a person, or a sound, or a date. Today, it's just the fact that it is Father's Day and I am seeing photos of fathers plastered all over Facebook.

Today, what I remember about my father is that he taught me what a tuning fork was by the time I was 7 years old. 

Photo Courtesy: Crystal Tones

For those of you who do not know what a tuning fork is, it is a two-pronged fork made of elastic metal. When stuck against a surface it vibrates and makes a high pitched sound that moves onto becoming a smooth musical tone.

So why would a father teach his children about a tool used to check hearing loss or tune musical instruments? It wasn't the use of the tool but what the tool did, how it moved, that he told us about. To much giggles and rolling of eyes.

Whenever we pushed him to do something or took advantage of his fun-loving nature, Anna would tell us, in a mock severe voice, "You are taking undue advantage of your father!". 

He would then pause, and go on to say,"We could never take advantage of our father like this. When ever we were summoned to stand in front of him, we shivered like tuning forks!" Their bones and insides trembling & shivering at a high frequency, while they looked calm on the outside. 

We heard this so many times that the term "shivering like a tuning fork" meant the same as "shaking in your boots". Of the two, "shivering like a tuning fork" is the phrase I like. 

It's personal. It's real. It's a part of my childhood. A part of me.

So it shouldn't seem strange that on this Father's Day, when I remember my father, I remember one of the many strange things he taught me. And "shivering like a tuning fork" is one of the strangest. 

Here's to all the strange, fun loving father's out there.

Have a great father's day!