Dad, Thank you
My dad and I do not have and have not had the best relationship; in fact we are rather distant. For all of the issues that I have with my father, I owe a part of my success in life to him (mom gets the other part).
My dad, a Chemical Engineer, pushed me hard to study and be better than just average. Today, I wish I hadn’t pushed back as much. My dad took us eight kids to places from beaches to museums. Everywhere we went presented a learning opportunity. At museums, he encouraged us to read the signs at every display and to ask questions. At the Sandy Hook beach in New Jersey, he took us on the nature walks and through the old battle structures. Even at zoos, we did more than just look at the animals. My dad was my sister’s and my coach on our soccer team, the Falcons. He played games with us, built igloos in the snow in the backyard snow, and took us to plays and musicals in the park.
I learned tough lessons from him about taking care of things. One time I ran over the electric cord while mowing the lawn. He repaired the cord and then took the cost of the parts out of my small allowance.
Dad never spanked us for grades. He only spanked us when we did stupid things and, trust me, we never ran out of stupid things to do. Instead, when our grades did not reflect our true potential, we had to sit down to talk with him for what seemed like hours. A spanking would have been faster and easier for both of us, but not better. My wife thinks I had and maybe still have a slight attention deficit disorder. That might explain why, when I was child, my parents took all of the toys out of my room to try and get me to study and do my school work. Even then, two pencils easily turned into dueling spaceships.
My dad bought our first video game system, the Magnavox Odyssey, because it had a keyboard and learning opportunities. Our first real computer didn’t play games, it only had a word processor for doing school work. My dad took me to Philadelphia to computer conventions where I was bit by the technology bug.
On Saturdays, you learned never to utter the words “I’m bored” or “There’s nothing to do”. It seemed that he never ran out of tasks to fill our boredom.
For all of the issues between my dad and me, I appreciate everything that he did to help me become the person I am today.
Dad, thank you.
