My dad, among all the other contributions he has made to my life, is the reason I'm into this hobby. Primarily, he was into model railroading, and to this day he is the best terrain modeler I've ever seen. I wish I had pictures of some of his stuff, it was mindblowing. He also collected civil war miniatures, and he taught me when I was in elementary school how to pour molten pewter into molds and cast my own minis. He taught me to paint them in high gloss oil paints.
While I never really got into the historical stuff he was into, it was only natural that while pursing my Magic the Gathering career and spending endless days at the LGS that I would be drawn to the Warhammer hobby. He encouraged me, bought me paints, modeling equipment, and basically taught me everything I know about the hobby side. I don't claim to be a even a mediocre painter, but it was a proud day for me when my dad stopped giving me advice on how to improve my horrid paints and gave me the sincere compliment, "wow, that model looks great."
I even pulled him into the GW hobby a bit. He never played a game, but he scratch built an amazing castle to 28mm scale, and bought a full Vampire Counts army to attack it, and a Wood Elf army to defend it. For him, it's just a fantasy genre diorama piece but it still captured the GW feel.
My dad lost his long battle with cancer today. I have a lot to thank my dad for, far beyond just this hobby, but this seemed like the appropriate place for this one, anyway. I don't think he knew just how much of a big influence he had on me, but hopefully the people who knew both of us can see some of the best parts of him in me.
Love ya, Pop.
My thoughts are with you and your family at this difficult time.
ReplyDeleteI, too, have been through the same.
I can only say, that time does heal, and the memories which may be hard to recall, now, are those that you will cherish and will be your friend in the future.
Keep strong.
CS
What a loving tribute.
ReplyDeleteMy sincere condolences to you and your family.
Be Well,
'Lo
I can resonate w/this. I lost my Dad to terminal illness and he always supported my gaming when I was young. He took me to origins in Ohio, where I played my first game of 40k, and then helped me find where we could buy a 3rd edition box set and sprung for it (we were always kind of poor so it meant a ton). My condolences. Thanks for writing for us.
ReplyDeleteI'm so sorry to hear about your dad. I lost my mom four years ago, she was 50, so I can completely sympathize with what you're dealing with. Nothing will ever replace your dad and you'll think about him every single day and you certainly have some great memories of him. He'll live on forever through you and those great moments you had with him.
ReplyDeleteIf you ever need to chat you can hit me up: thor@creativetwilight.com
Really sorry to hear about your loss. My dad sounds very similar to yours, he has always been into modeling and painting, from britains and boats to planes, trains and automobiles. He did the same for me and I will always appreciate him for introducing me to such a wonderful and fulfilling hobby. I even recently put up a post dedicated to some scenery he made after reading GWs "how to make wargames scenery", I hope if you care to read it will bring back some good memories for you.
ReplyDeleteMy deepest condolences, it's been a crappy couple weeks for me hearing about people passing and having just found your blog and the similarities between our fathers I'm really heartbroken you're going through this.
You have my earnest sympathies and condolences. A well written tribute - it reminds me a lot of some of things my dad did with me, encouraging my efforts in the hobby and of how blessed we are our to have a parent like that in our lives that really takes an interest in their kids' endeavors.
ReplyDeleteMy sympathies to you and yours.. much like you my own father was an inspiration to me and really pushed me into most (if not all) my creative hobbies. It's hard now.. when everything feels raw and a bit off.. but it will get easier.
ReplyDeleteMy sincere sympathies to you and your family, Take care and be well...
ReplyDeletefinancial help for single Dads
My prayers are with you.
ReplyDeleteThat's terrible news and I'm so sorry to hear that. I can totally empathise with the situations. My dad used to read me stories from Greek mythology and history every night and bought my first set of "Crossbows and Catapults" when I was small. I guess these were the main influenced that drove me to Warhammer (and fantasy fiction, games etc.) later in my life.
ReplyDeleteUnfortunately I lost him too from cancer when I was a little kid. Keep all the quality times you had together in mind and celebrate his memory. I am sure he would be proud of this tribute.
Your dad sounds like a great guy.
ReplyDeleteSorry to hear about your loss, you'll be in my thoughts.
My condolences to yourself and your family sir.
ReplyDeleteMy sincere condolences for you and your family for your tragic loss.
ReplyDeleteMy condolences Nike.
ReplyDelete