My father’s generation, born between 1900 and 1927, was not generally socialized to be engaged with their children. They were not in the delivery room nor the first to hold a newborn. My mother's female relatives or best friends, not my father, accompanied her to deliveries. The wife was supposed to dominate and control the children and the home. Fathers rarely volunteered for childcare duties.
A good, evocative piece, Jim. You wrote not only of your father but also his milieu, so we could better understand him as a parent. I’m just sorry he didn’t leave behind more letters for you to remember him by. Thanks for including the Gleason and Hanks clips. It’s clear that temperament and interests you had far more in common with your bookish mother. Good for your father for not pestering you to go into scales or sales.
Thanks very much, David. I spent a lot of my life from age 10 until the time of my father's death when I was 34 focusing on the ways I was NOT like him. Making my peace with him required acknowledging the ways I WAS or AM like him, what he gave or bequeathed to me, both good and bad. I guess that's the focus of another piece. And you are so right that one of his gifts was not controlling or insisting that I be and do like him.
My Favorite! Above Exceptional! Absolutely Wonderful Read! Thank you for sharing!
Wonderful. I wish my mother in law from Pikeville, were alive to read. Heartfelt and colorful. God bless.
A good, evocative piece, Jim. You wrote not only of your father but also his milieu, so we could better understand him as a parent. I’m just sorry he didn’t leave behind more letters for you to remember him by. Thanks for including the Gleason and Hanks clips. It’s clear that temperament and interests you had far more in common with your bookish mother. Good for your father for not pestering you to go into scales or sales.
Thanks very much, David. I spent a lot of my life from age 10 until the time of my father's death when I was 34 focusing on the ways I was NOT like him. Making my peace with him required acknowledging the ways I WAS or AM like him, what he gave or bequeathed to me, both good and bad. I guess that's the focus of another piece. And you are so right that one of his gifts was not controlling or insisting that I be and do like him.
“It’s clear that temperament and interests you had far more in common with your bookish mother.
Sorry for the dropped word, Jim. I meant to say: “It’s clear that in temperament and interests, you had far more in common with your bookish mother.”