Witty Wisecracks and Wisdom of Edmund Gates, Jr.

My father, Edmund Gates, Jr., celebrated his 96th birthday on June 15. His speech is limited so he no longer uses these sayings. However, my family finds ourselves using his witticisms. I will use one of his phrases and then ask him if he recalls saying it. He soberly nods in the affirmative. 

Sayings of My Father

                My father didn’t speak very often or for very long without using one of his tried and true sayings. They were an active part of his communication, usually for humor or succinctness.

                Here are a few of the ones I recall best:

It’s bad, but who ain’t got it bad?  Dad was sympathizing with my sister and me, but telling us to be strong and not complain because everybody has difficulties so why talk about them.

It’s a tough egg.  – Again this was Dad’s way of empathizing with the particular situation and its particular set of problems.

I feel good! – Dad used this often with Mother, many times in the mornings. Frequently, he emphasized how great he felt with a high kick!

It’s nothing like fightin’ the Germans.  – This was Dad’s code language for letting Angie, my sister, and me know unequivocally that nothing we could experience would be anything like flying combat missions over enemy territory during World War II.
Stay with me, Goad! – For a humorous explanation of the origin of this saying, go to the blog entry entitled When a Big Bender Kept a Man From Blowing Away. It was posted on May 17, 2015.

He’s/She’s dancin’ now! –Dad used this when someone was extremely active. He usually used this with me since I would have moments of exuberation and elation, with me “feeling the music” or as Dad would say “feeling good.”

I’ll be sitting on my barracks bag. –Having served in World War II in the Army Air Force from 1941 through 1945, Dad always prided himself that he never missed a train, ship, or even a plane headed into combat. Of course, the barracks bag held all his worldly belongings while serving. He had it all packed and sat on it as he waited for departure. It was his way to encourage promptness and punctuality.

He/She looked like a bar of soap after a hard day’s washing. – Dad usually used this statement to refer to people who looked haggardly or “spent.”  Whether it was life choices or hardships inflicted upon them by others, their faces told the tale. Unfortunately, I’ve looked in the mirror following retirement  and frightened myself.

Work never hurt anyone. –Dad came by this belief honestly. To read of one way he learned this, see the blog post , Maybe It Was Spring Fever, published on April 12, 2015. He and my mother were in total agreement about this, since she often reminded us, when we were children and especially teenagers,  that God instituted work for Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden prior to their choice to sin. She would say, “There is nothing bad about work. In fact, you can have a sense of satisfaction when you finish the job.”
Everybody works at our house!- Dad loved to say this when everyone was working on a common goal, such as in the summer when Grandpa and Grandma Smith, my maternal grandparents, my mother, my sister, and I were picking green beans from the garden, "breaking" the beans, canning the beans, labeling the jars, and transporting the canned green beans below to the cellar. Mother's aim was to process at least 52 quarts - a quart for each Sunday dinner of the year. On the farm, everyone has to work to be successful.

 The world wasn’t made in a day. –Dad used this phrase to calm me down if I was feverishly going about a job – usually because I wanted to get finished with the task, not so we could get on to other “work.” God systematically created the world in an orderly, paced manner. Dad was trying to teach me to have a measured pace, neither too slow nor too fast, at whatever I attempted. I am still amazed at how much he accomplished in his late 80s and early 90s following this principle.

You have a lazy man’s load. – Whenever I tried to carry an enormous load or an excessive heavy load, Dad used this saying. He said the lazy man tried to get the job done, never mindful of the chance of drop things or hurting oneself in the process. Dad was trying to teach the importance of systematically, methodically, and wisely doing every task instead of just trying to get it done.

I’m good to her every day of the year. –Dad seldom bought Mother gifts on Christmas, Valentine’s Day, their wedding anniversary, or her birthday. Actually, in their early days of marriage, he bought expensive gifts of sterling silver flatwear, collectible vases, gorgeous jewelry, and stylish clothes. (Angie speculates that the arrival of his daughters took all the extra gift money!) When Angie and I questioned him about his seeming failure to acknowledge such important days, his response was always the same, “I’m good to her every day of the year.” That’s a pretty good philosophy for making a relationship last almost 70 years.

Christians ought to be happy people. –Dad was known for relating stories between hymns during the Sunday evening worship service at our church. He had this prerogative since he led the music at our church. Frequently, he had the congregation laughing uproariously, hardly what one would expect from a worship experience. Dad believed that people that had their faith in Jesus to forgive their sins and were on the road to heaven should be happy people because Paul wrote in Romans 8:32:

 He who did not spare His own Son, but gave Him up for us all –how will He not also, along with Him, graciously give us all things? (NIV)

Dad’s line of thinking was why would God’s people not be joyous. I’ve had more people than I can count who have commented on Dad’s great attitude no matter where they met him.

Godliness with contentment is great gain. –This verse written by the Apostle Paul in his letter to Timothy, a young pastor, has been one of Dad’s “go-to” Bible passages. Dad believes that if we put God in His rightful first place in our hearts and lives with our words and actions, we will find contentment within and experiences more riches in our spirit than all the money in the world could buy. Dad continues to live by this verse and experiences much contentment even though his life is much different than he ever imagined it would be.