Our parents are whole people whose lives don't revolve around us. And sometimes it's easy to forget that. Which is why stories about dads, especially ones that happened way before we were born, can be pretty mind-blowing and memorable. For example, I think at least once a day about the time my dad accidentally ate weed-laced cake while climbing Mount Everest. That's probably one of my favorite stories about my dad.
People on Reddit are sharing their favorite stories about their dads and here are 25 of the craziest and most memorable that will make you laugh, cry, and want to call your dad (but wait until Sunday!):
1.) From Seeeab:
When I was a baby he burnt his eyebrows off cooking on a grill
It wasn't until I was in high school that my mom told me this story, and I laughed, and she was like "wait, nobody ever told you this before?" And I was like "haha no but why would they?" and she just looked at me and was like "You never asked why your dad didn't have eyebrows?"
I had gone my whole life never realizing my dad didn't have eyebrows.
In fact, I didn't believe her when she told me and thought she was just doing a stupid mom joke like I was still 7 or something. When we got home though I saw for myself. They just didn't grow back. As a consequence I can no longer ever take him seriously.
2.) From The_Real_ssj3:
My dad tried to remove an underground yellow jacket nest in our back yard..... by setting it on fire. So, he pours some gas in while my mom watches from the kitchen window. This should have been enough, but no, he took it one step further by lighting a match, stepping away, and throwing it into the nest. Little did he know, the yellow jackets would have the last laugh, as their final moments approached, the ground burst open, sending not only dirt chunks flying, but releasing flaming yellowjackets which proceeded to chased my terrified father a good distance before finally succumbing to the flames. All while my mom laughed herself to tears in the kitchen.
3.) From Hubert_J_Cumberdale:
My dad's picture was in the very first issue of Life Magazine (November 1936) under the title, "Life Begins." The picture was taken seconds after he was born.
For the very last issue of Life Magazine, they planned to include a picture of him again, but he died the day the photographer was scheduled to take his picture. They went ahead with a tribute article... The title of that article was "Life Ends."
Edit: Pics
This story ends up on lists of "most ironic deaths" all of the time.
4.) From nalu_:
My dad used to work for a railway's company, so sometimes he would spend nights working in the middle of nowhere. One of those nights he met two guys wearing the company's uniform, but he didn't know them. They asked him for directions and my dad politely answered. When they were gone, police officers showed up and asked him if he had seen two men whose description matched with those guys he met, turns out the guys had just escaped from prison. And my dad helped them.
5.) From Zarff:
Him and his pals were thirteen years old at the time and they got to thinking/talking about their respective adolescent love lifes and who they're "going to get" when they're older. My pa had a girl in mind - a girl who he didn't even interact with on a relationship level yet - but a girl nevertheless.
They decided to write down the name of their pick on a piece of paper each, and then one of them had to keep all of the pieces of paper for safekeeping.
Fast forward fifteen years and the game has been forgotten about. It's my parents wedding day. As the car is leaving the chapel after the service, my pa's friend stops the car and hands in an envelope through the passenger window. Pa opens the envelope and it's the same piece of paper that he had written on fifteen years ago with his now wife's name on it.
It's pretty neat.
6.) From tiridawn:
When my dad first met my mom and asked her on a date he had a full 70s style mustache. When he picked her up for their first date he no longer had a mustache. He told my mom that he just didn't like having facial hair anymore. In reality he had burnt it off the night before taking flaming shots of tequila. Love that guy.
7.) From derive-dat-ass:
I mentioned once to my parents how it was interesting that there was usually only one word for each food in English, but often two in Punjabi. I used cucumber as my example - called both 'kheera' and 'chukumbr' in Punjabi. They looked at me, confused, and told me that chukumbr was an English word; when I denied that, my mum suggested it was the British way of saying it, since we'd learnt it like that from my (British) dad.
"No," he said. "That's just how it's spelled: C-H-U-C-U-M-B-E-R."
My entire family spent two decades mispronouncing cucumber because my dad can't fucking spell.
8.) From RiversideRiverside:
My father worked on the 68th floor of the World Trade Center and was at his desk on 9/11. He made it down the 68 floors to safety, and received a medal from the mayor for helping people down.
Many of his co-workers were not as fortunate. Amongst the dead was his boss. My father was given the promotion, and all the benefits that come with it, because his boss was killed.
The boss' wife was left a widow. The whole office came together and had a vote to pick someone to look after the widow. My father was chosen. He would take her out every single weekend for years following 9/11 for drinks, or to catch a movie, or have a nice dinner out - basically anything to keep her mind off of her loss.
My father never told me this story. In fact, he never even mentioned this lady to me. It was only a few months ago that my father's good friend told me.
Whether it was out of guilt or a sense of duty, my father silently went about a morally upstanding act without spreading awareness of it. I believe this is something I could learn from.
9.) From gogojack:
My dad was the general manager of a small manufacturing plant back in the 80s. They made "foam packing products for industry."
That stuff your television comes packed in. Foam coolers. Wig heads. Expandable polystyrene was the official name. What you may know as Styrofoam, but that was the competition's product and Styrofoam was a dirty word in my house growing up.
Anyway, my dad was by all accounts a good boss. He treated his employees very well, and whenever some outside group would send in union ringers to try and organize the plant, the employees would kick them out. He kept his shop non-union by offering better pay and conditions than the union could.
Then my dad died.
Many years later - 17 to be exact - my mom went to a retirement party for one of the longest serving employees. She was sitting at a table with a bunch of old-timers, and they were all swapping stories about my dad. About the time he bailed that one guy out of jail. About that time he bought Christmas presents for that one family who had hit hard times. About the fishing trips he used to take people on. All along, there was this one guy at the end of the table who got more and more agitated at every story. Eventually, he got up in a huff and stormed off.
My mom asked "so what's his problem?"
They responded "oh, he's the new guy."
He was hired on as the new manager after my father had died. Despite being in charge for 17 years, he was still "the new guy," and hated being compared with my dad.
10.) From Mastifyr:
I just remember when I was a little kid, seven or eight, I was in the backyard with him while he was constructing my swing set. He got the frame together and decided to move it across the backyard (and we have a pretty big backyard), so he just picked it up like it weighed nothing and carried it over. Looking back now it couldn't have weighed more than sixty or so pounds, but in that moment, little kid me was so impressed, like, "that's my dad, he's cool."
11.) From ButtCrackMcGee:
My dad has all manner of stories of shenanigans. The one that immediately comes to mind is from when he was in the army.
When out on maneuvers during training, my dad always got picked to be the 'bad guy'. His job was to basically fuck with his own guys (flatten a jeep tire or 2, cut phone lines, etc) . He developed a great trick involving fishing line and a rubber snake. Obviously, he would run the fishing line through the camps, across trails, etc. And then (at just the right moment) pull his big rubber snake around and scare the crap out of everyone. It got to the point where his fellow army dudes would not really even blink at seeing a rubber snake cruising through; it was played out. He took to stuffing big chunks of damp rope into the bottoms of sleepingbags, which just made the rubber snake thing work again; everyone was spending so much time watching where they were walking so as not to be surprised by a fake snek, they wouldn't even see what the agressors were up to.
This was always just a story my dad would trot out on occasion, until I met a guy at a cafe. We got to talking about this and that, and he told me the story of the rubber snake and the absolute chaos that resulted. Obviously he had no clue who I was, in relation to the subject of the story. I was informed that my dad was a fucking evil genius, by an independent party.
Of course I came clean and explained who I was, and we had a good laugh.
12.) From [deleted]:
Too many to count, but my favourite is one of his pranks. My dad was doing something to the electrical box in the basement while my mom tended to other things upstairs. Cue him screaming bloody murder and flicking switches on and off. My mom ended up flying down the stairs with a 2x4 to smack him off of it. I'm surprised she didn't beat him with it anyways. I miss that man more than anything.
13.) From WhiteVans_FreeCandy:
when he was a kid he was at a family reunion. he had just recently learned the phrase 'good riddance.' he thought it was just another way to say goodbye. at the end of the reunion he stood at the door telling people who left 'good riddance.' my grandfather was not pleased.
to this day, its the one story about him that he is unable to keep a straight face when telling it.
14.) From ShitNMuhGrits:
He once chopped a tree down with my uncle at the top
15.) From dottmatrix:
A couple years into college, a girl he knew transferred to his school. He ran into her, and they talked a bit, and she asked "so, what's a girl got to do to get a date around here?".
40+ years later, my dad realized she was hinting that he should ask her out.
Ladies, men are that dense. Your hints aren't obvious enough, no matter what you think!
16.) From ShowMeYourTorts:
Hmm...Probably the story of his and my mom's first date.
Back in 1975, my father asked my mother out on a date. They had known each other already because my dad's buddy dated her a few months prior (yes, pops got permission from his buddy. No bro code violation).
Anyway, they are all drinking, smoking weed, having a great ol' time. My mother, at the time, used to suffer from extremely bad cramps and would often pass out from the pain. Well, this happened that evening while they were at a party.
My dad thinks she is on something and refuses to listen to her when she tells him to give her a shot (the booze would ease the pain. a technique she had done countless times in the past). Well, dad doesn't listen so mom passes out.
My father had to bring her home to her parents from their first date, unconscious, and carrying her in his arms. When my grandpa opened the door, my dad was already mentally prepared for the verbal, and likely, physical abuse that he was about to endure.
But my grandpa just smiled at him, said hello and thank you for returning her, and that he looks forward to seeing my dad again.
My dad just stands there for a minute completely dumbfounded.
17.) From ian-alistair-naude:
My dad is a native Rhodesian (now Zimbabwe). His ancestors (Huguenots) had fled France during the Reformation when the Huguenots were being killed. My mom's parents were missionaries in Rhodesia and she started dating my dad in high school.
When they graduated, my mom came back to the states to go to university. My dad stayed in Rhodesia for a year without her before eventually realising that he would lose the chance to marry her if he stayed much longer.
So, my dad sold all of his cows (my grandpa was a farmer and gave one cow to my dad every year for his birthday), which got him enough money for a one way ticket to New York City.
He arrived in NYC in winter wearing shorts and a tshirt. He had no idea which state my mom was in but somehow was able to catch a greyhound bus and make his way to the city where he thought she'd be. He found her on the day before finals as she was studying. He asked her to marry him and the rest is history.
There are so many amazing stories about my dad, but this one always makes me especially proud.
18.) From genedan:
My dad stole a helicopter. During the last days of the Vietnam War, the airport at Saigon was being shelled by the NVA and the South Vietnamese government was collapsing. My dad, a South Vietnamese soldier, and his drill sergeant stole a helicopter and made their way south because they thought they would have to keep fighting. Sometime during their flight they found out that South Vietnam had surrendered and they were essentially stranded in mid-air. They flew to Thailand and met friendly forces there, and eventually made it to the US.
Btw he's not the only soldier who did this. During the last days several Vietnamese soldiers stole whatever aircraft they could get their hands on, and they would literally land in their backyards, pick up their families, and then head out to the ocean and land on American aircraft carriers before they ran out of fuel. Check out stories about Major Buang and Ba Van Nguyen as examples of soldiers who did this.
Happy Veterans' Day everyone!
19.) From ibalson:
My old man told me a story one time that I really didn't believe until years later when I ran into my uncle who could confirm.
Okay, so this was in the early 00's and he and my Uncle head down to Miami to do some golfing and well, mostly some drinking at the bars. It just so happened to be Spring Break. Now, they didn't know because we're from Canada.
They end up getting one of those deals where it's like $50 for a bracelet that lets you drink all you want. So, he's getting a little tipsy and Again, can't stress enough, he's from bum-fuck nowhere in Canada, starts shooting the shit with the college girls.
I've seen it before and he's insanely good at chatting people up, real people person. So these girls come over and are laughing at his jokes etc. He starts claiming that hes a Rapper from Canada. Going off about how he goes by Two-Packs-a-Day (smokes).
As he tells it, a soft spoken African American guy with a bunch of "big bodyguard" type guys surrounding him comes over and asks to sit down beside my old man and my uncle.
The bodyguards leave and they shoot the shit for the whole time at the bar. My dad, pounding drinks back, and this guy, somehow was able to smoke joints at the bar the whole time.
He finds out from one of the college girls who were hanging around that the guy was someone named "SNOOP DOGG", who he does not recognize at all. (Again, Bum-fuck Nowhere Canada).
They hang out all day, go skinny dipping together for free t-shirts and he doesn't think anything of this guy.
Cut to a couple years later. I'm watching Old school on the TV and my old man is on the computer in the other end of the room. He goes; "Who the f*** is that?" I'm like, "Who? Will Farrell?" "No the guy with the Mic."
Flabbergasted, I tell him that Snoop Dogg, one of the most famous rappers of all time. He proceeds to tell me this story about how that guy is just the nicest dude ever. They talked about home renovations and raising kids the whole time.
I thought he'd lost it until I brought it up around my uncle. He knew the whole time and didn't bring it up because he thought if my Dad knew who that guy was, he'd scare him off.
Totally weird. He's got a billion stories like that, a real good one about getting banned from public transit in all of British Columbia for a decade.
Anyways, for another time.
20.) From literary_freak:
When he was camping with his buddies, he took a fistful of shrooms and decided to run as fast as he could in a straight line until he hit a tree. Another time he almost started a forest fire and tried to put it out by pissing on it. We've bonded over our mutual appreciation of the outdoors.
21.) From AbbyVanBuren:
My dad started reading the Harry Potter books with me so that we could have something to talk about together.
22.) From jules_winnfieId:
My grandparents went out of town once, leaving my teenaged dad and uncle at home for the weekend with instructions to not touch the car keys. They immediately took the car for a joyride, and dinged a fender. They then drove around New York until they found a matching make/model/color, and stole it. They took the quarter panel off and parked the car a few streets away.
When grandma and grandpa got back the next morning, my dad and uncle were allowed to drive to pick them up. Grandpa took the wheel and drove home. On the way, they passed the maimed car. Grandpa looked at the car, looked in the rearview mirror, back at the car, then back at the boys. Didn't say a word but they swear he knew.
23.) From Kukulkun:
My dad got knocked out by Chuck Norris.
When he was a teenager in the 70s he lived in LA and his dad wanted him to learn to fight. They went to a dojang that Chuck Norris had helped open/funded/did guest lessons at. It was a hot day and my dad was dehydrated when Chuck Norris came in to show some kicks.
He used my dad to demonstrate and kicked just a little bit too hard in his side. It knocked the wind out of him and he fell over. After that he wasn't interested in martial arts.
24.) From Tigerrfeet:
When he was in the marines, he and his buddies had a night off while they were based somewhere (I'm not sure where, but it was cold) and they got very drunk and went out. While walking home they saw a king penguin, so they went back to their house, grabbed a blanket, came back and threw it over the penguin and took it back to their house. They then passed out drunk, and woke up the next morning to a house full of penguin shit, a very pissed off king penguin, and a lot of questions.
25.) From SexyPantyJeannie:
My father worked on the descent engine of the lunar module for Apollo 11. Yeah my dad got Neil and Buzz's asses on the moon safely.
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