The impending arrival of Father’s Day has instilled a mitt-full of thoughts in me, as it generally does every year. It’s not a calendar event I rank very highly, nor do I generally invest much energy in recognizing it.
It’s been a long time since I’ve had one (a father), my dad died in 1970 when I was 16. I know a little about who he was from the things I got to learn while he was around and I’ve learned a little more from my mom in the time that’s passed since he passed. It’s a mixture of emotions, I do appreciate knowing more though. It’s not a happy place and making the most of it means a lot. So that’s what I focus on.
Immigrants who left a war-torn country. Raising a family in a new culture. I have great admiration for what both of my parents accomplished. I only wish I’d had more time to get to know my father. I will give him credit for teaching me a lot though. Including a lesson I hold dear still…
You never know, so take every opportunity and make the most of every day. Now… he’d never have tried to express that, he wasn’t that kind of person! And yet he was exactly that kind of person in how he lived.
Actions, not words. I learned that from him and I live by it. So, thanks dad. And happy Father’s Day.
Karl Christoph Kraiker. 1913 to 1970