When I was a kid, I couldn’t imagine either of my parents having a life of their own before I or my brother were born. It can sometimes be hard to imagine your parent having the time of their life in their single days. That’s what ‘dad lore’ is: the crazy adventures fathers had before meeting our mothers.

Father’s Day was a month ago already, but that doesn’t mean that we can’t celebrate dads anymore. That’s why we’re bringing you the best ‘dad lore’ stories from this thread. One user asked, “What’s the best piece of dad lore you’ve ever heard?” and over a thousand people came to share their stories. From the origins of the family dog to suspicious tales when dads were (gasp!) dating other women, this thread had it all.

Read More: “Still Laughed About It 20 Years Later”: 30 Times Kids Realized Their Dads Were Legendary

#1

My step dad, who is long since passed away, was in the military during Vietnam and about a decade after. On his last mission, his helicopter was shot down and he was the only survivor out of 11. After the crash he looked down at himself and saw his stomach was split open and all his guts had fallen out. He pushed them all back inside and used his belt to hold everything together until help arrived. He ended up with some digestive issues from it and had to have his spleen completely removed, but otherwise ended up physically okay. The PTSD destroyed him, but he did his best to not let it affect me and my mom and he was the best father figure I could have ever asked for. He got an honorable discharge and a purple heart from it.

He told me plenty of stories, some totally badass and others really sad, but this is the one that really stands out about how strong and capable he was as a person. He died 19 years ago and I miss him every single day.

#2

My dad was once dating a girl who was into golf. She took him to a major tournament (don’t know which one) to watch it with her and her dad.

She was obsessed with one of the golfers there so she and her dad woke up early to go around and follow the golfer. My dad sleeps in and then isn’t interested in the golf so he goes to the nearby beach.

There was a man there with windsurfing boards and he decides to give one to my dad for free because everyone is at the golf. He windsurfs for a couple hours and then returns to the golf around hole 15.

He meets up with his girlfriend and her dad and lies and says he walked around the holes and watched a few different people and everything goes fine.

He returns to home and then a few nights later goes to her house for dinner. He sits down with a plate of lasagna for dinner and there watching the golf re-runs and the commentator pans out and does a full zoom around and sees my dad wind surfing, zooms in on his face and says “there’s a lad who’s not very interested in the golf”

My dad was dumped on the spot.

Image credits: Penguins2451

#3

My family is from Wisconsin. One year my parents decided to go on a vacation to Australia and New Zealand. While they were there deciding to go on a hike on a popular mountain range in New Zealand. While hiking my dad hears someone yell his first name. Thinking that there was no way that anyone on the opposite side of the world could possibly know him, he didn’t even look and just kept walking. Then the person yelled his first AND last name, which is not a common last name at all. My dad turns around and sees our next door neighbor! Our neighbors from a small town in Wisconsin just happened to go on vacation at the same time of year, to the same country, and decided to go hiking up the same mountain at the same time as my parents. The insane level of coincidence almost made me convinced we’re all living in the matrix.

#4

My dad used to be in a band, and grew up in Belfast. June 1978 he and his band were recording in Wizard Studios, and a guy from the band recording next door came in and said: “Hey, we need some guys to do some hand claps on our song.” So my dad and his mates go and clap their hands for this other band for a bit, then go back to recording.

And that is the story of how my dad’s hand clapping is in the song Teenage Kicks by The Undertones.

Image credits: sedahren

#5

I don’t know all the details, the family kept it kinda hush hush, but apparently my dad and his 3 brothers kidnapped their sister back from the Jehovah’s Witness. Apparently she kinda started distancing herself from the family and eventually stopped responding at all. They went and found her and just brought her back home in the middle of the night one night haha.

Image credits: moonlitecrystal

#6

My dad and his friend were driving around. Pulled up to another car at a red light which my mom and her friend in it. The guys hit on the girls and convinced them to stop for a drink. They pair up with my dad talking to my mom. His opening line was that he was a virgem. (Virgo in Portuguese but to my 20 year old Scottish mom it sounded like virgin.) she was like “ok, cool, good for you. “ still laughed about it 20 years later.

Image credits: Teresa_Kiki_D

#7

The second time my dad was struck by lightening, he didn’t even fall down.

Image credits: BabyBearMan

#8

My uncle told me this story years after my dad had passed away.

My dad grew up in a farm town in western PA in the 60s. Being a teenager in the middle of nowhere in the 60s he was known to partake in a bit of libations here and there.

One night he got home and was visibly toasted. According to my uncle he sat in a chair facing out the front window and just stared into mostly darkness for a good few minutes. Mind you this was in full view of the whole family. So my PopPop asked him, “Jim, why don’t you go to bed?” And my father replied “I’m waiting until the cows come home.”

My PopPop thought he was being a smartass and told him to go to bed. Then he looked out the window and saw a herd of cows crossing the road into the yard.

Image credits: thecheat420

#9

Some time in the ’70s, my dad went to see Tom Waits play in some dive bar in Downtown Denver. A drunken, passed-out man was in the doorway, who my dad realized was William S Burroughs. So he had to step over Burroughs to get in to see Tom Waits. Legend.

Image credits: jpow33

#10

My dad was a tough old dude. I remember as a kid when he needed knee replacement surgery, he had a consult where the doc asked if he’d ever broken any bones and he said nope.

Cut to after the procedure- the dr was like: why didn’t you tell me you broke your leg previously? Dad- oh, was it broken? I did hurt my leg many years back but I just walked on it until it felt better. 😐.

#11

On their first date, my dad accidentally fed my mom and himself dog food. Expired dog food. This is how I realized whose intelligence I inherited.

Image credits: SeniruSan13

#12

My dad fought with the Ariel Sharon brigade during the Israeli Yom Kippur war in the Suez Canal.

He was on a dune with two of his squad members when an Egyptian plane showed up and started shooting towards them. They all lied down on the sand to take cover, my father was the only one who ever got up.

Image credits: DrunkAlbatross

#13

It’s short, but my Grandpa claimed to have invented casual friday because one day he didn’t feel like wearing a tie to work and soon after it caught on. Legend.

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Image credits: Aide-Subject