Categories: uncategorized
Date: 05 September 2004 07:02:13
Time :: 5:00pm
Temperature :: -1 deg C
Conditions :: Misty with a moderate breeze. Snow was great this morning, though.
It's father's day today. My dad is on church camp back at home, I sent him a text message but he hasn't replied yet. I like my dad, he's really cool, we had a great time together when I was growing up and I loved his playfulness, humour and contact - he was always around because he worked at thome. I still have a close relationship with him. As I've become an adult I've learned to respect him for his honesty, hard-working nature and compassion.
Anyway, father's day got me thinking about my childhood. Growing up my sisters and I were fairly sheltered, it comes from living in a semi-rural area with New Christian parents, and besides we were naturally shy. Still are. I sometimes wish that this aspect of growing up had been different. Recently my mum gave me some family history that my uncle (mum's brother) wrote a couple of years ago about their childhood, and it helped me understand. Her parents immigrated after being messily involved in ww2 and lived in a community of European people who had all been displaced by the war and her experiences weren't always happy. She never told us stories about when she was little, and reading some of the stories I understand why.
Dad's family had been here for generations and his childhood seemed good, although his family were not wealthy by today's standards. The effects of war were still present in his own life, he was drafted to go to Vietnam although thankfully it was over before he had to fight anyone.
When I was growing up our family was always loud, happy and laughing. It's hard to believe that the experiences of my mum (and to some extent dad) growing up were so different. I am forever grateful to them for giving us such a wonderful life, and to God for making good come out of bad. Only one generation on and the only effect of the war that I felt was an overcompensation of care and attention, that's got to be a miracle.