The Best Dishwasher in Portland

Ralph Wade - Dishwasher Extraordinaire 

 Have you met my dad? If you haven't, let me have the pleasure of introducing you to him. My dad, Ralph Wade, is an awesome guy. I knew him until I was seven years old, when the State of Oregon decided my parents weren't capable of taking care of my brother and me.
Whatever.
Things happen.

My dad started working at Aladdin Restaurant, inside the Meier and Frank store at the Lloyd Center Mall in 1968 when I was 8 months old. He started out as a dishwasher, standing in front of a sink for hours every day, scrubbing pots, pans and touching every piece of restaurant  glass, silverware, and dish multiple times a day.

When I met my dad again, I was 18 years old and Ralph was still washing dishes at the Aladdin Restaurant. I traveled from my adopted home in Arizona to Oregon to meet my original family. I found Ralph at work, his arms in soapy water up to his elbows when the restaurant manager took me to the kitchen to see him. The ill-tempered manager begrudgingly allowed Ralph a 15 minute break to visit with me. It felt like I was visiting a prisoner at jail. We hugged, Ralph marveling at how I'd grown up and me marveling how my dad hadn't changed at all.

When my dad was in 4th grade, his school told his mother to take him home. Ralph was unteachable. He couldn't read or write or do math. His mother taught him at home and Ralph grew to be a nice man. When he married my mother, she taught him how to read by studying the bible with him.

Ralph worked full-time washing dishes at the restaurant for a couple of weeks shy of 21 years. In 1989 the restaurant closed for good as the Lloyd Center mall prepared to undergo a major teardown and remodel. Ralph began delivering newspapers instead. My dad worked hard and made the most of the limited opportunities life gave him.  I admire him so much for that.

 Life isn't fair. Some people - no matter how hard they try, aren't going to get a college degree or earn a 6 figure salary. So what? My dad isn't lesser than anyone else because he washed dishes. He has always taken the one talent he was given and broke it into 20 pieces, to share with anyone who needed his help. I think the rest of us could learn a thing or two from Ralph, the kid his teachers said couldn't be taught.