Laura Fernsten

Megan posted this on facebook, but I wanted to have another copy. If you have any other funny stories/thoughts, please add them !

I stole this from Megan, but she just says things so much better than I could ever, with a few extra added memories. Tomorrow marks the 2 year anniversary of my dad’s passing. Pancreatic cancer took his life in the blink of an eye, yet his courageous battle and faith will always leave an impression on my heart. I think about him everyday and made a list of memories, inside jokes, his mannerisms and things about my dad, Chris Fernsten, that bring a smile to my face. These are a few of my favorite things <3

- My dad’s smile

- The twinkle in his eye

- Many saw him as a gentle giant, and always loved little kids, even though some of them were scared of his large stature

- He would laugh until he cried, or fell out of his chair

- His green and blue button up work shirts

- The smell of right guard deodorant

- His white work trucks parked on the street, every day of my life

- Hearing KGO from the kitchen radio at 5 and 6am as he got ready for work

- The sound of his spoon clanking his cereal bowl in the mornings and squeaky chair

- His beautiful hair. Short or long, I loved when he got curly “wings” aka- baseball hat hair

- The booms from the bass of Pink Floyd coming from the garage or den while he worked

- Always gave service throughout the community – school, church, boy scouts, track meets, food drives

- How he’d pound the dash board blasting Phantom of The Opera on the drive to the cabin, as if it was his drums or piano

- The moustache !

- How he’d call us kids in the morning at college or on our way to work while he sat in S.F. traffic to chat

- Long drives back and forth to college. Simple, yet a perfect time to bond and share college stories

- His beautiful singing voice

- Sang in Handel’s Messiah with his buddy Jim Willits every Christmas

- Whenever I said “Shut Up” he’d make fun of megan…. & repeat it like Stacy London on what not to wear

- Being his occasional helping hand while working on his Hot Rod, or various construction projects in the house

- He could escape to the garage when there was “too much estrogen in the house!”

- Our “bear” hugs where I squeezed him until he made a noise like I was making him throw up from squeezing so hard

- If you wanted a high five, he’d fake you out so you’d high five the air

- More high fives ? He’d stand on his tippy toes so you’d HAVE to jump to hit it- 6’4″ is a long way up

- He’d sing “I want it DAD’S way” to the Backstreet Boys

- Always sported a pencil behind his ear

- He had special mechanical pencils for work, we’d be in trouble if they were borrowed and not returned

- While remodeling “The man cave” shopping for granite became “Grandamnite” because it took 2 years of shopping before someone could make a decision.

- His squirrel killing techniques – from the master bathroom toilet with a BB Gun pointed out the window !

- Always won something at his work safety meetings and came home so proud to be a winner

- Enjoyed watching sports and Nascar when time allowed on Sunday afternoons

- Jokingly wanted to name us kids : Flavius, Phlebitis and Ichabod

- IZHAYNAE was his favorite ghetto name to say

- He’d laugh at me every time I spilled food on myself at the dinner table (this happened a lot)

- Worked like a beast in the mountains, loved beautifying “God’s country”

- The smell of sap and chainsaws brings so many memories

- Loved big tools and toys – snowmobiles, tractors, bulldozers, jack hammers

- Star gazing at the top of Mtn. ski resorts with sleeping bags and chase lounge chairs during meteor showers all hours of the night

- Us girls took him shopping for new clothes at the mall before his big trip to South Carolina for a family reunion. He hated to shop….but he loved it this time. We had a BLAST together. Looking classy !

- He’d jokingly say “WHAT?” all the time because he was deaf in his right ear, and even made fun of me when an ear infection left me deaf for 2 weeks

- Made fun of anyone that had a crush on a Willits Boy – They’re all handsome if you ask me !

- He threw one of his co-workers in a dumpster and told him to clean up his act and his language. haha

- If it was just dad and I at the dinner table, we’d sit on opposite ends and throw or slide condiments across the table just for fun because it was too far to reach.

- Watching Law and Order with me and always singing the “doink doink”

- Frequently made the “L” sign on his forehead to indicate a loser

- Whenever something electrical malfunctions in the house we still jokingly blame it on him

- Had a passion for fixing and tinkering

- He got a speeding ticket with me driving home from the mountains which was a little secret that made him and megan laugh all the time.

- We knew we’d better get moving when we got THE phone call, “Do it so your mother get’s off my back” or “get it done so your mother stops worrying”

- He referred to Rachel’s car as ‘The Foster Farms Mobile” because it was always trashed like in the commercials with the chickens

- He would bless the dinner “leftovers” and “left over leftovers”

- Dad was “Quality Control” at Christmas time as the head baker. His traditional goodies were to be perfect

- No matter how hard the math problem, I could always ask him to take a look at my math homework, or just the ones I was having a hard time with, and in the morning on the table, he left me a piece of grid paper with how he worked out the problem and where I went wrong in doing it.

- Always having someone to wake up at the crack of dawn to go to dreaded morning seminary

Some of his favorite sayings/jokes :

- Why do mermaids wear sea shells? Because D shells are too big and B shells are too small.
- You can pick your friends and you can pick your nose, but you can’t pick your friends nose
- I didn’t raise truck drivers
- You weren’t raised in a barn
- You make a better door than a window
- No one is worthless, they can always serve as a bad example
- Last but not least, “I don’t know, I Juuuuuust don’t know” -Chris Fernsten himself