Happy April Fools Day

As I woke up at 6:00 this morning, I lay there in that land of half up and half not. In my mind, I think of the many years my phone would ring at 6:00 on April Fools Day and it would be my Daddy with some prank to pull before we were completely up. After years in the U.S. Navy, the Coast Guard and working for the railroad, he was used to being an early riser. Every morning he was up at 5:00 ready to start the day. My mother would get up and fix him bacon and eggs and homemade biscuits for breakfast every day. I get my morning personality from him. The minute his feet hit the floor, he was wide awake and ready to face the day. You would get up stumbling to the bathroom or kitchen and Daddy would be smiling and giving you a hard time. Ready to have entire conversations when you barely had your slippers on your feet. He has been gone for 11 years now and I still miss him dearly every day. But April Fools Day holds a special fondness. He loved this day. He would call each one of us early in the morning, knowing we wouldn't remember what day it was and he had a better chance of "getting" us. My favorite was one year when he called and I answered the phone, still groggy because I wasn't even out of the bed yet. It was around 6:00. Daddy said "Have you looked outside yet? It dumped a big snow last night." Living in West Virginia, we had snow up into March and on occasion we would get a late March, early April snow, but it was rare. His words popped my eyes open. I jumped up out of bed and ran to the living room, screaming "Oh my gosh, your kidding!!" I slid open the living room drapes to see the front yard. As Daddy heard the slide of the drapery rings on the current rods, I hear a boisterous, laughing "APRIL FOOLS". You just had to laugh with him. He had so much fun with it, you just couldn't get mad at him. But you didn't call your siblings to warn them. If you were going to be the fool, let Daddy get them, too. The angels better watch their wings and halos today, because I'm pretty sure Daddy hasn't changed and it's hard to tell what he's getting them with today.