Nibs

George Edward White, my father. His boyhood nickname was ‘Nibs’. As a boy, he had two front teeth that made him look like a rabbit.  The biggest impact that my father has made on my life is positive attitude and perseverence.  This man has had hardship since day 1 and you’d never know it.  I have learned so much just by watching his calm, positive steadfastness.  He carries on, with no pity party.  As a boy, he was born with his hip out of the socket, and back in the 30s, the treatment was to put him in a full-on body cast, with a bent leg and stilted shoe.  How he learned to walk in this contraption with crutches is mind boggling.  All he wanted to do was be a normal kid and play baseball like the other little kids.  He rose above this disability, and went on to play baseball later on in high school. This was the first of five hip treatments he would have throughout his lifetime.  He had 3 total hip replacements, and on the 4th, there was no hip left.  At 84, this would be his last hurdle to overcome, and when they sent him home, he got a staph infection that almost turned deadly as they had to go back in, clean out his wound, pack it with antibiotic “beads” and Mom and Christy spend 8 weeks giving him high powered antibiotics at home through a pic line in his arm.  He decided against replacing the hip again - an operation that more than likely would be hard to recover from as he had 3 times before.  But more scary was the infection.  He is now in a wheelchair, and he really hasn’t missed a beat.  Even though that leg is not attached, he can walk with a walker.  His attitude through this entire situation is truly an inspiration.  He also had kidney stones multiple times, and on the first operation they cut him open from belly button to spine - this was before the ultrasonic bath they put you in today.  Probably the most amazing attitude inspiration was when he had his cancer scare with the “butterbean” tumor in his eye socket that he had to go through 7 weeks of daily targeted radiation to overcome.  He NEVER complained.  Even when the radiation caused his eye to become raw and lose the hair on the back of his head where the radiation “beam” came out the other side of his skull he never wavered.  His outlook, positivity and thankfulness for all the help through this was truly something I’ve never seen from another human being.  I’m sure he had bad days, but I did not experience them.

While I consider my mother as having raised us, my father was an awesome provider - not only for us, but also for his mother and aunts when he was a young man.  This turned into working overtime at Chrysler to make ends meet in Detroit.  Dad was not around as much as Mom when we were kids - he was usually gone by 6am to head down to Detroit and came home by 6pm.  While he was absent from daily activities, his presence was felt in keeping his responsibility to his family - even when he was laid off from Chrysler.  I appreciate his guidance over the years specifically around finances and cars.  My mom will tell you that I got his gift of gab, his artistic ability, his happy-go-lucky friend-to-everyone personality.  From my dad, much like my mom, I learned to be fair, to accept all types of people, and do my best not to judge.  Dad had a bunch of friends from working at Chrysler that he is still keeps in touch with today.  I have cultivated the same type of relationships with my closest friends.  

His loyalty to my mother is another trait that I really appreciate in him and it has been a model to me in my life.  He was the Scarecrow at my wedding, only fitting because the scarecrow and Elphba end up together in Wicked.  More stories will come out in future blog posts. I LOVE YOU DAD.