Our dad wore bib overalls. He was a farmer you see. Still, it seemed that all the other kids’ dads wore belted jeans and that was way more trendy. So my sister and I tried to get dad to wear jeans, but he’d have none of it. He said that when he had to climb around on the ground under farm equipment for repairs, jeans just didn’t stay where they were supposed to--I guess by that he meant covering his skinny rear end.
In addition, bibs have a handy pocket on the side for a pair of pliers, big deep pockets in front and back, so that things like pocketknives and lucky buckeyes don’t fall out very easily. Oh, and we mustn’t forget those intriguing little pockets on the bib part itself. This is the very best feature of all. Let’s see, there is the small vertical strip of a pocket just right for a knife-sharpened, stubby lead pencil. Then there's a pocket made to hold the miniature tablet that dad always got from the seed-corn company. He used that sometimes to figure stuff like crop yields and insecticide/water ratios. It closed with a 'snap' button. A pocket watch could fit in one of the bib pockets too, but he preferred his old scratched up wrist-style Bulova. Lastly, there is the pocket that held his unfiltered Lucky Strike cigarettes. Even years after he gave up the habit, you could still see his hand gravitate toward that pocket at certain times.
With a grandchild perched on his lap, he’d let them explore those entire bib pockets. Small fingers would first pull out the pencil, then the tiny tablet. Next thing you know dad would be drawing a cartoon version of the grandkid, always featuring an exaggerated and humongous nose. This never ceased to be funny to the grandchild or to me.
Dad frequently left the top waist button on his bibs undone. I guess that was for extra comfort, especially after a large meal. He always took his bibs off by unfastening just one of the straps, and slipping the other snapped one off of his shoulder. I asked him about that and he said it saved time getting back into the same pair the next day.
At day's end dad would lie on the couch and watch the news and weather forecast on TV, or read the latest issue of “The Prairie Farmer”. He often tucked one hand under the bid of his overalls and rested it upon his chest. He looked comfortable that way--so much so that we laid him to rest in that pose following his bold fight, but defeat from pancreatic cancer. There really was no question in my mind how we would attire dad as we sent him off to meet his Maker though. So, for eternity he is outfitted with a John Deere cap in hand, and a brand spanking-new pair of Osh Kosh by gosh!
dad in bibs, me, and the dogs
Happy Father's Day Dad!
