This is a most nostalgic time for me and mine. A time that noone really wants to go through,yet,everyone must, at some point in their life say goodbye to someone. Inevitably,these times brings to mind others who have gone on before. Anniversaries, once circled in red, with exclamation points, now noted, but,not marked on the calendar. Remembered,yet, no longer "celebrated".So it is now, in our home. A family friend has passed, unexpectedly, and it is so close to a time of remembrance of a beloved member of our family, the feelings hit doubly hard. A wedding anniversary, and the one year anniversary of his passing in the month of April, and within two weeks of each other. Beyond the normal stroll down memory lane, this all brings back to crystal clarity events and images of times when I was a kid at home.
Mom and Dad were a beautiful, handsome couple who did fascinating things. They worked hard, played hard, and they communicated to us, with us, and in front of us. They laughed, they cried,and sometimes, they shouted, but they never contradicted each other in our presence. They had spats, but it was never over what one of them said to us children.Even when they did not see eye to eye on something,it was never about our discipline. Consequently,we three kids knew beyond a shadow of a doubt that our parents loved us,and what one had said was not going to be changed by the other.
I can literally re-live our summer vacations. We would go to a lake resort for a week, or two.I think of those times,and I have to smile. I really had a great childhood, even though my folks were strict, they were loving,and fun. Clever, too. They used that relaxed atmosphere, to get points across to us that might have been touchy at any other time.
case in point:
Dad and I were cleaning fish, an awful task, but he made it fun.While we worked, he said,
"so the guy says to the girl, will you, for a million dollars?"
"and the girl says, Sure!"
(I gasped, and looked up at my dad in surprise)
"and the guy says, okay, how about $10?"
"well, the girl looks him up and down and says, Hey!
What kind of girl do you think I am?"
"and the guy says, we've already established that, now we're haggling over the price!"
Sneaky guy, my Dad. I never forgot that lesson, and my motto has always been, nobody has enough money that I'll say "sure!"
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