Richard Steven Pittam

Dinner on Cruise

One thing I always loved about going on vacation was having Nana and Papa join us. They always made every trip special and gave us some of our favorite memories. One of mine was during dinner on one of our cruises together. Anyone who’s been on a cruise knows the dining rooms are always a bit colder than the rest of the ship. As we were eating, Papa was quieter than usual. It wasn’t until Nana looked over that we realized he’d been secretly collecting the thick napkins and wrapping them around his arms like a makeshift blanket. We all started cracking up, and for the rest of the cruise we teased him that his knees were clacking together from the cold. Over the years, anytime we saw him get chilly, we’d still make the same joke. Every family trip will never be the same without you. I love you and miss you, Papa.

Hunting Arrowheads

Dad would always take me out of school for 1 day each year to take me out arrowhead hunting when I was in elementary school. He would pack us a cooler with sandwiches, chips and sodas and mom would make us some cookies. We would spend the day hunting around Jal and usually after we ate lunch Dad would set up the cans from our drinks and we would shoot at them with his .22 pistol. I did not know until after we were going through his things that Grandma Pittam had bought him that gun. I cherished those days and will never forget how special it was telling all of my friends the next day at school what I had got to do! Through the years, that was the one thing that we got to do often and when we couldn’t when I got older, we would try plan to go on weekends together! We would get so excited when big dust storms would come through because we knew that the sand had moved around. Dad, I will miss driving around listening to your stories and listening to the oldies on the radio, see you soon!