The crane game

Tony LOVED stuffed animals and he loved playing the crane game. There was this place in Anoka when he lived there that would rent movies and made pizza. I think that's what the deal was and they also had a crane game with lots of stuffed animals. It was a machine that he could easily get them to come out. I don't even know how much money he spent on it but he had a huge number of the cheap animals. He kept the good ones but didn't know what to do with the rest. We were both attending the community college at that time and there use to be a little strip mall that also had a Circus Circus in it. We went up there and left the stuffed animals around the place to watch kids come up to find them and see what they did. It was so fun to watch those kids find the stuff animal, look around to see who might have left it. Some kids would take the animals and some would leave it. Your Dad loved to people watch, he liked to know how people ticked, what they thought about and so he was always watching.

the 'rents

So my parents set a rule that he couldn't come over in the house when there wasn't a parent home. I remember thinking it was a very silly rule. Remember, I was only 15. I look back and wonder "What was I thinking!"  Boy, I thought we were mature back then...silly girl!  Anyways, Tony would come over and we would get the extension cord out of the garage, snag the reclining lawn chair and put the little black and white TV on a stool so we could sit outside (obeying the rule) and watch TV together.  I'm not sure that there was anything my parents could have done to keep us apart in the beginning. We just wanted to spend every moment together.

His first car

When we first met, he didn't have a car and I wasn't licensed. I think it took me more than a year before I could get my license. He purchased his first car and I remember him telling me about it. Before he had his first car, he did a lot of walking or catching rides from people he knew and some I'm sure he didn't know. Sometimes he could catch a ride to my house but then he'd walk back to the town he lived in which was almost 8 miles away. This might explain why he was so skinny before he went into the military. He was probably nearly 6 feet and weighed 135 pounds. He likely didn't get enough to eat and expended it working and walking. The towns he lived in were also long distance so we never talked on the phone much (this was before cell phones). Our greatest pleasure was being able to spend time together. Once he bought his first car, he could finally come and go at his leisure. He was so proud of his first car, I remember talking to him on the phone about it and he drove up in this:

I was kinda embarrassed about it, talk about nerdville. I was honest and I think it hurt his feelings. I don't remember how long he had that car but I'm sure it beats walking. I do remember going to see a drive in movie in that car.

As long as I can remember....

Tony loved David Bowie. I think when he was younger, he would be compared to David Bowie and secretly I'm sure he loved that. There was a guy I went to high school that also loved David Bowie who liked to look like him too.  I'm sure he loved other musicians but this is the one that I always attribute to him. We also loved Rod Stewart and Peter Mayer.

At some point in 1989-1991 him and I went to the cities to go see the Indigo Girls concert. I think we had both just learned about them and I wanted to go BAD. The tickets were sold out but I was willing to pay a ticket scalper so we went down there two hours before the show. When we got there, there was a couple of guys with a sign "We need two tickets" already waiting. I asked them if they had talked to the ticket office yet and they hadn't so I let the office know that the line started with them. About 5 minutes later a woman came up and sold her tickets to the two guys so we were first in line AND we got there sign. Pretty quickly after that, the ticket office knocked on their window to get our attention and we were able to purchase two FRONT ROW tickets at face value and I was ecstatic! We dumped the sign in the garbage and went off to have dinner at some ethnic restaurant, maybe thai or something.  On our way back to the show, there was a long line of people looking for extra tickets and someone dug the sign out of the garbage and was using it. I'm not sure that the front row was the best place for that venue, I remember the music being SO LOUD that I used cigarette filters in my ears to try to quiet the noise level. It was a good night and one I never forgot.

This picture of David Bowie looks a bit like your Dad when he was younger.