Lessons From Imperfect Fathers
 |
| Dad, me, Art, Mom |
My
father wasn’t perfect—he drank too much and smoked unfiltered
cigarettes and died too soon. However, these aren’t the moments I
recall. Much of the goodness in me and my family is the direct result of
him.
He
adored my mother. I remember him coming home from work and we kids
would crow for his attention. We received our hugs and kisses, but then
he got to mom. He’d hold her in the kitchen and they’d hug and
smooch—none of us existed in that moment. Their love came first.
His
interests centered on his boat—and the boat meant family time. We spent
summers sailing the Long Island Sound, picnicking on sandbars, fishing
off the boat and cruising.
 |
| Bob, Dad, Janine, Alan |
He
consciously taught me not to smoke by showing me the tar his cigarettes
produced. He’d
arrive home from work at the same time daily. The great joy of my life
was to “surprise” him by walking the half-mile to the main road to meet
him.
These are heirlooms I can finger, joys that play out in my life today.
Little details of my life show my father’s impact. My love of reading, Of classical music. Of learning.
As our lives near their finales, what will our legacy be? None of us are perfect--but all our foibles will blur if:
- We make amends for the wounds we inflicted on those we love.
- We share the things we enjoy most in the world.
- We spend time with real humans in the real world rather than playing with our media or pursuing our passions alone
- We understand humans matter, not jobs or goals or pasttimes.
For more blogs from "Character Counts" see http://carol-mcclain.blogspot.com
13 comments:
Carol, what a lovely post! Thanks for reminding me that we can consciously impact how others remember us.
Blessings,
Deb
Agree! Terrific post. For every one thing we give now to help others we get back three-fold. even after we're gone.
Courtney
Thank you Deborah and Courtney. It's also a reminder, that despite our foibles, we can positively impact someone else.
I would hope my legacy would be my children being people of integrity.
KP
What a wonderful post! Thank you! We do leave our footprints in this world, don't we?
Great post, Carol! I miss my parents every day.
Kevin, JB and Ed, thanks so much. And a lot of our legacy is in how those we love choose to remember us and in what the choose to forget.
Beautiful! I have memories like that of my dad also, and my mom as she fades away with dementia. Precious!
I pray that my legacy will be of remembered love in things I said and did. Love always wins out over mistakes. I pray the love is what's remembered.
This is a wonderful post.
Thank you Liz and Donna. I'm glad I was able to encourage you.
Really enjoyed reading this snapshot from your childhood, Carol. What a great role model your father was in many ways-and your writing in honor of him is quite the tribute.
Bless you,
Gail Kittleson
Great post, Carol, thanks for sharing...I recognized my own father in what you're saying about yours. May be a generational aspect? Who knows...But fathers, even imperfect ones are so important for their daughters!
What our own legacy will be? Who knows...a good one I hope but it's not for us to say!
Claude and Gail, your comments bless me. In my writing journey, my prayer is to help others. Thanks.
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