What Sounds Remind You of Your Father?

We opened up the phone lines for California Report Magazine listeners to call in and share stories about the sounds that remind them of their fathers and grandfathers. Here we explore their messages and listen to some of those sounds: foghorns, Giants baseball on TV, an impact wrench, and even Kai Ryssdal's voice. These touching memories are certain to get you thinking about the sounds that remind you of your father.

_________

"I used to drive around Cleveland, Ohio with my dad during the summertime with AM radio on, always listening to the baseball game — windows down, windy and warm. Every time I have AM radio on and there's a baseball game on, I think about my dad."

- Michelle Deely

"Growing up in San Rafael, my family lived less than a mile from the Bay. I remember feeling very frightened by the eery moaning noise of the fog horns out in the darkness when I was falling asleep at night. One evening, as my dad was getting me ready for bed—I was probably about three or four—the fog horns started and I remember feeling just stricken with fear. And my dad went and got some paper and a pencil, and he sketched out this cute little drawing of a fog horn. He made it look so tiny and innocent on paper, and he completely diffused the situation. That was almost 40 years ago, and still every time I hear a fog horn I think of my dad and I remember how gentle and caring he was."

- Kristine Kenefick

"The sound that reminds me most of my father is Giants baseball on the TV. The sound of the crack of the bat, and there's a very distinctive way one of the announcers says, 'Swing and a miss.' Whenever I'm out and I hear it, it just takes me right back to my parents' house growing up. Happy Father's Day to the most devoted Giants fan I know."

- Jody Amable

"The sound that reminds me of my father is the sound of an impact wrench, immediately followed by the sound of an air compressor. My father is a mechanic and he used to work on cars over the weekend in our driveway, and my bedroom overlooked the driveway. And those are the sounds I would hear, which was super loud. Every time I hear it I think of my father."

- Jennifer Wong

"I'm a performing artist in San Francisco. The sound that reminds me most of my father is the album that he made, that we discovered after he died. It's called The Piano Styles of Trenton Cooper. Whenever I really really miss him, I throw that on and listen to all the songs he wrote for my mother, and that I grew up and went to bed every night listening to."

- Edris Cooper

"I'm calling with a memory of my grandpop, Jack. The sound that reminds me most of my grandfather is the sound of whistling. He whistled all the time: at home, while we were out, while we were in the car. I would spend several weeks every summer with my grandfather. One time he was whistling in the car. I was in my teenage years, and the sound was piercing, it was driving me crazy. And I said, 'Grandpop, would you please stop whistling.' His job was picking up bodies from the mortuary at hospitals and taking them to a funeral home. And his comeback was, 'None of the people that I drive around at work ever complain.' That was exactly his sense of humor, and whenever I hear anyone whistling I think of my grandpop."

- Katherine Newton

"The distinctive sound that reminds me of my dad is the sound of a spoon hitting the side of a little espresso cup, because that's how he used to wake me up when I was in high school. He used to make me a little cup of espresso with a teaspoon of sugar in it and hit it very noisily as he walked from the kitchen to my room, and I would hear that 'ding ding ding ding.' [The noise reminds me of how] annoying my father could be, but also how caring he is when he would do things for me, my mom, and others."

- Giacaomo Fiore

"The sound that makes me think of my father is Kai Ryssdal's voice. That's because every time we were in the car with him, we would be listening to NPR, begging for music, and we would hear Kai say, 'But first, let's do the numbers.' And my dad would say, 'You can wait for music. They'll do a segue and you'll hear some music.' Luckily, I get to think of him many times each week."

- Aaron Harkey

"Without a doubt, the sound that reminds me most of my father is the sound of mechanical clocks. And not just one of them, the tick-tock, but hundreds of them. Our house was filled with them. I would have friends come over and they wouldn't be able to sleep at night because the entire house was ticking and tocking, all in unison."

- Steve Ogden

"The sound that reminds me of my father is the opening of a soda can with a simultaneous cough. Whenever my brother, sister and I heard this, we would stop watching the movie playing on the big screen and smile as we looked down the row and wondered if any of the other moviegoers noticed he had just opened the can of Tab. As an Episcopalian priest, my father is highly ethical. He only brought in his own drinks and popcorn with no butter after he had checked with the manager, and only if they did not sell his low-fat options at the theatre. I love you dad."

- Patty Debenham

"The sound that most reminds me of my father is the sound of ceramic or glass banging together. He would drink coffee from ceramic mugs every morning, and on the way to work he would eventually finish them and set the mug underneath the seat of his car. After several days there'd be a few mugs, and every time we'd turn a corner in his truck the mugs would bang together."

- Mollie Maisch

"The sound that would remind me of my father would be to hear his old Atlas Lathe with its gear train. It's an electric motor with a gear train, and the gear's running. Probably listened to that tens of thousand of hours during the course of our many years together. My dad had a shop in our backyard, and until he passed away I'd go and visit with him and he'd be running the Lathe or the mill. We had a full machine shop."

- David Linser

"The sound that reminds me of my father is the sound of an electric carving knife. Every year at Thanksgiving my father would use the electric carving knife to carve the turkey. Apparently in 1961, when my parents were married, electric carving knives were the cool gadgets that everybody was giving each other for wedding presents. It's not Thanksgiving without the sound of that electric carving knife and my mother holding her head in her hands hating the sound of it, and the rest of us seeing it as a nostalgic memory of Thanksgiving."

- Carolyn Day Flowers

"The sound that reminds me of my father, Joe Giacomini, is the sound of a shovel turning over dirt. Dad grew up in a big dairy farm family in Ferndale, California. One of his earliest chores was to turn the soil in the vegetable garden that fed the family. When he returned from World War II, he started a farm of his own and a family and a garden. He would start at a corner of the huge plot. In a few hours, it was ready for planting. He ran the dairy business successfully over 20 years. But at 45, after losing a son, he decided to try to fulfill a lifelong dream of becoming a lawyer. He moved his family to San Rafael and started over as a student. He worked, studied, raised four kids, and he planted a garden. Dad was sworn into the Bar on his 53rd birthday, and loved every moment that he practiced law. Each spring when I dig into the soil, I think of the countless shovels that dad turned, and the vegetables and children and respect that he raised."

- Susan Giacomini Allan