Pat was watching American Pickers on the History channel. I got sucked in.
I’ve always thought that Dad was a reasonably successful citizen. You know —he owned his own farm, put his kids through school, sold the farm and moved to a new house in town. A pretty typical Iowa farmer and family man, and of course most importantly, he was my dad!
If you knew Dad, you’d know that he loved to go to auctions. And he often made purchases. Too often he bought those things listed as “articles too numerous to mention.” He’d come home with a bushel basket full of—well, junk. It might have had one cowbell in it, or maybe half-a-dozen box-end wrenches. The rest was simply stuff no one (no one else, that is!) would bid on.
Dad would sort through all the stuff, select some “treasures,” load them into his pickup, and head out on his route of area antique dealers. Some things would be sold, some wouldnn’t. But Dad didn’t seem to care; he was enjoying life!
As I watched American Pickers, I thought of Dad. The Pickers visited several junk collectors, some even in NE Iowa.
For the first time ever, I realized that Dad could be considered a failure! Some of those folks who collected junk and saved stuff had numerous buildings full of old stuff. Dad wasn’t even in the same league as they were.
But he is still “my hero,” junk and all.