“Hop” An Introduction

Depicts the life stories of an ordinary man who does extraordinary things.

“Hop”

An Introduction

My father’s God given Christian name was Philip but to everyone around him he was simply know as Hop.

There were several theories on how he received this nickname, but the most logical was the little hop in his gate that could be seen when he became angry and moved toward a person.

I saw that little hop several times in my life and on each occasion I did my best to get out of his way as quickly as possible.

My father was an old fashioned, hard nosed, made of steel kind of man.

The type that no longer exists.

He never became rich or famous or widely known.

Yet he was a loving and caring husband and father and a fiercely loyal friend who was liked by all who knew him well.

Forced to leave school at an early age and go to work to help support his family he would never be afforded the financial security a college degree would have offered him.

In many ways his life mirrored those of millions of others who came before him.

To me though he was so much more.

My father worked two jobs eighteen hours a day, seven days a week and I never once heard him complain. Not once.

He was confident in his role as a husband, a father, and a man.

His job was to put food on the table, a roof over his family’s head, and ensure that his children had every opportunity to be successful and achieve what he could not in his life.

He expected them to do better than he had and he demanded they do so.

My father was known for two things.

The first was his incredible physical strength.

The second was his enormous heart.

He never refused a friend a favor.

Often I saw him reach into his pocket and give away his last dollar to someone who needed it more than him.

These were true acts of friendship and compassion because no matter how hard my father worked he never earned enough to pay all the bills.

He and my mother constantly juggled their finances to “Rob Peter to pay Paul.”

Still he found a way to keep us all fed and safe and we always had what we truly needed.

He also emphasized the need for a good education for all of us so that we would be better prepared to face the world.

How he managed to find the money to send all his children to college or for professional training is beyond me.

My father’s example instilled in me the values of loyalty, honesty, and hard work.

As a result of everything he did for us and for others, where ever I went around town I was known as Hop’s son.

That meant that I never paid for a drink or a meal, that I never stopped hearing stories about my father’s physical strength or his acts of kindness, and that I never had to worry about anything because someone was always watching over me.

To so many he was more than just an ordinary man, living an ordinary life, doing ordinary things.

He made an extraordinary difference in the life of so many others.

Although my father is no longer with us, the principles and values he believed in are still worth touting.

In order to do so I have decided to bring his deeds to life through a series of short and very colorful stories that show who he was and what he did.

Like in the old days of serial newspaper installments these serial stories are designed to pique the interest of the reader.

Hopefully, those who read them will come to know better my father, Hop, and enjoy reading them as much as I enjoy telling them.

Reviews

[Samuel Dickens]

This went well with my coffee this morning. Having grown up poor and surrounded by hardworking people who also lived beyond the railroad tracks, I know the kind of man your father was. Mine was similar, though never known for his physical strength. I miss those days and those people. I try to be like them and hope I'm not alone.