If you know me well you know I can easily be described as quiet, a stoic, and hard-working. You should know I'm also not a quitter. All this came from my father.
He had a tough start - his mother rotated through 5 husbands, which was not exactly model-mother behavior in the 1920's and 30's. He served in the Pacific in World War II and never talked about it. He always, always, always worked. When the Texaco service station he managed closed down he took a job selling soft drinks at the high school football stadium, just to keep working. For him, exchanging as many as 25 words was a long conversation. He didn't walk out on a bad marriage*, which meant that whenever I came home there was a father around.
On the down side he was a distant and unemotional father. For the good side, he never ever gave up, never tried to force me to do anything I didn't want to and was proud of me.
He was my father and I am him.
Rest in peace, Pa.
*Unlike my father, I am lucky enough to be married to a good woman.
I just got off the phone to my dad :)Up until 6 months ago, we was still playing hockey 4 days a week. He's 81. He's everything that I would ever want in a dad. :)
ReplyDeleteA very moving post. Thank you...
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