A couple of weeks ago it was Father’s Day. What did you do to celebrate the father in your life? If you have a living parent or if you are a parent what does this day mean to you each year?
This year, for me, it was a time to remember …
My father died 7 years ago, having lived a fairly long life (he was in his 90s), but what really brought the day home to me was that it fell on the same date that my mother died 33 years ago.
No mother, no father, but does that make me parent-less? I do miss them, but I’m used to being without them, especially my mother. I’m more used to not having a mother than having one! Odd, but true. My relationship to my father was not always easy. He was still there for me regardless of how I viewed him. He relied on me more as I grew older. I appreciate him the more I think about what he did for his whole family. Things do become clearer as you age. You see things that you didn’t see, or think about, before.
All that said …biology is not the only attribute to having or being a parent.
Now a parent myself, I feel the pain when my son is sad, be it the bullies at school, or the scratched knee falling from a bike, or the nightmares that just won’t go away – I’d willingly take them all. I know he needs his experiences but I want there to be more happy ones than sad ones for him.
Aunties, uncles, brothers, sisters and friends have all helped to parent me. My thanks go out to them all as I remember …
This year, for me, it was a time to remember …
My father died 7 years ago, having lived a fairly long life (he was in his 90s), but what really brought the day home to me was that it fell on the same date that my mother died 33 years ago.
No mother, no father, but does that make me parent-less? I do miss them, but I’m used to being without them, especially my mother. I’m more used to not having a mother than having one! Odd, but true. My relationship to my father was not always easy. He was still there for me regardless of how I viewed him. He relied on me more as I grew older. I appreciate him the more I think about what he did for his whole family. Things do become clearer as you age. You see things that you didn’t see, or think about, before.
All that said …biology is not the only attribute to having or being a parent.
Now a parent myself, I feel the pain when my son is sad, be it the bullies at school, or the scratched knee falling from a bike, or the nightmares that just won’t go away – I’d willingly take them all. I know he needs his experiences but I want there to be more happy ones than sad ones for him.
Aunties, uncles, brothers, sisters and friends have all helped to parent me. My thanks go out to them all as I remember …
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