My father 1939
Happy Birthday
I grew up without much affection, except for my grandmother and a bit from him. He was a smart, athletic and extremely selfish person. He loved to ice skate and had me on double bladed skates by the time I was three. He taught me to ice dance. There was an ice arena near our home and he got into long blades sometime in the late '60s. I carried my ice skating skills to roller-skates in my early teens. We also had a rollerskating arena near home.
He was the reason I got my first horse. He loved horses and had an American Saddlebred as a boy and an Arabian as a young man. Guess what I have owned for forty years. My first horse was a draft cross, he encouraged me toward a steady, well trained fellow, which was the right thing to do.
He is also the reason I was able to ski. I joined the ski club in junior high and he encouraged me. I spent years on downhill skis. He taught me how to change car oil, how to change a tire.
What he didn't do was protect his two children from our mother.
5 comments:
Families are so damned hard. I'm so sorry Sandra.
Thanks, but no need. I have reconciled with all of it and I do forgive him. It was a tough situation and he was kind of a pampered guy, Pixie. He married a sociopath and didn't know what to do, so he protected himself. He did bring my maternal grandmother to our house to live, which helped a lot.
I can't imagine a father even talking to me, let alone teaching me anything. Good thing I had a mother! Families are situations to recover from later.
Families are so complicated. I'm sorry Sandra.
Your dad was a very handsome guy!
I love how supportive your dad was. He also has quite the look - there seems to be a questioning lift to the eyebrows. My mom was our teacher, dad, not so much. He was too busy with work and his pursuits.
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