An Old Standby

I stopped giving my dad father's day gifts a long time ago.  He reached his limit of new ties back in '88.  And the one thing that he might want -- raw mahogany to refurbish any number of boat restoration projects he's working on -- is waaaay out of my budget.  But it occurred to me this weekend, in the middle of our 4th of July cookout, that this man desperately needs a new grill. Seriously, take a look at this thing. I'm pretty sure this is the same grill that we used when we summered at Sacandaga Lake when I was 4.   

"DAD" I said, in an alarming tone as he was stacking a myriad of burgers and dogs on the rack.  "You need a new grill."  That's when I got the look that Paul Conolly has given me a million times.  The one that suggests I haven't the foggiest idea what I'm talking about.  Why in the world would he need a new grill? So what if it wasn't a fancy contraption made of stainless steel with special warming burners and shelves for condiments.  So what if it took three tries to get it started.  This grill had cooked countless meals for our family for decades.  It wasn't broken.  It "wasn't even close to not working."  What I needed to do was stop complaining about the grill, pipe down and eat my ball park frank.  

I sometimes refer to my dad as a simple man.  And I don't mean that in a negative way.  Quite the contrary - he's a guy who has his priorities more in gear than anyone I've ever met.  Maybe now's not a good time to tell him I recently spent $65 on eye cream.