Tuesday, July 31, 2007
The Upper-Case "L-Word"
I bitch a lot. It's sort of what I do. I'm sure it gets old for you, the fine readers of The Globex Corporation Newsletter which is why I try to limit my bitching to one day a week. OK, I violate that, but if you compare the contemporary blog to "Globex Classic" (I'm always working the marketing angle...), you'll find that I'm not quite so bitchy today as I was, say, two years ago.
That's not what this post is about, though. This post is about family, specifically, mine (no, not the "Juliluses"...). Like any family, mine pisses me off from time to time. I could go into things, relatively recently even, that made me want to break from my family. Try as I might, I keep going back, though. And, more importantly to me, they keep taking me back.
I was the younger of two children, the only boy. I always felt like I was the favorite. Maybe I was, but when I look back on things, maybe my parents just made me feel like I was the favorite. Exceedingly fair people, when I look at the type of people they are, I don't think they could have had a favorite. But I sure felt like I was.
While my dad was gone a lot in the military, he was never distant. Not an overly emotional type, he was always there those times when my heart was breaking, but in his way. He was the one who spent an entire day with me driving to and from Sioux Falls to pick up my stuff when I got separated. When you spend 12 hours in a pickup with someone at a time like that you need comfort. You also need someone with a strong back and first hand knowledge of loading a vehicle. I got both that day, as difficult a day as I've had to endure
I chopped a lot of wood at that time. I'd go to the woodpile and break up aspen and pine logs with a kind of rage I didn't know I was capable of until I couldn't lift the maul over my head anymore, until the blisters on my hands were torn open and bloody. Dad brought me a pair of gloves and showed me how to split wood correctly, how not to waste energy, how to accomplish something with all of that energy, how to do the job right. It was exactly what I needed at the time and somehow he knew.
My mom was always there in a more emotional and intellectual way. She was a stay at home mom in a time when that was actually possible. It causes me a great amount of sorrow when I see an economic situation that forces both parents in a household to work. Kids today (God, I sound old) are really missing out. A parent at home kept me out of trouble, was always there when I needed a hand.
Mom grew up on a farm, and you always had a big breakfast on the farm. We had a big breakfast every morning, more breakfast than we probably needed, but that was mom's thing. Cereal? I didn't know what cereal was until I went to college. Our breakfasts always had meat and lots of grains. Again, I wasn't spending all day in the fields, I was going to sit in a classroom. I probably didn't need all of that food in the morning. It was an advantage though, I was alert and not hungry when I went to school.
I led an advantageous childhood. Not advantages like going to the best schools or having things. My parents were all about advantages. They were always there (and continue to be) when I needed them. Mom was at home, returning to work after we kids could fend for ourselves a little better. They did things for themselves, sometimes on the cheap, to provide more for the family. That provided more money for the family, but it was more importantly a lesson. You want food? I learned that it was possible to cook for yourself, to kill and butcher the food yourself. You want a room in your basement? Build it yourself. You can use the money you saved for something else.
I don't kill my own meat or build much of anything anymore, but I'm well aware of the possibility. And I do a lot of things myself, those lessons translated into thing in me my parents probably didn't expect. I like to read, so I write. I like music so I create it. I like food so I cook. I like beer so I brew. Those things are gifts from my parents.
It is not my intention to leave anyone out, my sister, her kids, her grandkids provide me with a great deal of happiness. And I've learned from the all, they provide their own lessons. It's my parents who have made me what I am. It is not possible to thank them enough.
I love my parents. I respect and admire them. I hope to be like them when I grow up. I mean that in a childish way, but also as the humorous and thoughtful adult that they taught me to be.
BOJ
...serious time has now concluded, back to the pointless crap you've come to expect from The Globex Corporation Newsletter. Have a great day...
That's not what this post is about, though. This post is about family, specifically, mine (no, not the "Juliluses"...). Like any family, mine pisses me off from time to time. I could go into things, relatively recently even, that made me want to break from my family. Try as I might, I keep going back, though. And, more importantly to me, they keep taking me back.
I was the younger of two children, the only boy. I always felt like I was the favorite. Maybe I was, but when I look back on things, maybe my parents just made me feel like I was the favorite. Exceedingly fair people, when I look at the type of people they are, I don't think they could have had a favorite. But I sure felt like I was.
While my dad was gone a lot in the military, he was never distant. Not an overly emotional type, he was always there those times when my heart was breaking, but in his way. He was the one who spent an entire day with me driving to and from Sioux Falls to pick up my stuff when I got separated. When you spend 12 hours in a pickup with someone at a time like that you need comfort. You also need someone with a strong back and first hand knowledge of loading a vehicle. I got both that day, as difficult a day as I've had to endure
I chopped a lot of wood at that time. I'd go to the woodpile and break up aspen and pine logs with a kind of rage I didn't know I was capable of until I couldn't lift the maul over my head anymore, until the blisters on my hands were torn open and bloody. Dad brought me a pair of gloves and showed me how to split wood correctly, how not to waste energy, how to accomplish something with all of that energy, how to do the job right. It was exactly what I needed at the time and somehow he knew.
My mom was always there in a more emotional and intellectual way. She was a stay at home mom in a time when that was actually possible. It causes me a great amount of sorrow when I see an economic situation that forces both parents in a household to work. Kids today (God, I sound old) are really missing out. A parent at home kept me out of trouble, was always there when I needed a hand.
Mom grew up on a farm, and you always had a big breakfast on the farm. We had a big breakfast every morning, more breakfast than we probably needed, but that was mom's thing. Cereal? I didn't know what cereal was until I went to college. Our breakfasts always had meat and lots of grains. Again, I wasn't spending all day in the fields, I was going to sit in a classroom. I probably didn't need all of that food in the morning. It was an advantage though, I was alert and not hungry when I went to school.
I led an advantageous childhood. Not advantages like going to the best schools or having things. My parents were all about advantages. They were always there (and continue to be) when I needed them. Mom was at home, returning to work after we kids could fend for ourselves a little better. They did things for themselves, sometimes on the cheap, to provide more for the family. That provided more money for the family, but it was more importantly a lesson. You want food? I learned that it was possible to cook for yourself, to kill and butcher the food yourself. You want a room in your basement? Build it yourself. You can use the money you saved for something else.
I don't kill my own meat or build much of anything anymore, but I'm well aware of the possibility. And I do a lot of things myself, those lessons translated into thing in me my parents probably didn't expect. I like to read, so I write. I like music so I create it. I like food so I cook. I like beer so I brew. Those things are gifts from my parents.
It is not my intention to leave anyone out, my sister, her kids, her grandkids provide me with a great deal of happiness. And I've learned from the all, they provide their own lessons. It's my parents who have made me what I am. It is not possible to thank them enough.
I love my parents. I respect and admire them. I hope to be like them when I grow up. I mean that in a childish way, but also as the humorous and thoughtful adult that they taught me to be.
BOJ
...serious time has now concluded, back to the pointless crap you've come to expect from The Globex Corporation Newsletter. Have a great day...
Labels: Positive Tuesday
# posted by Blind Orange Julius @ 11:18 AM 
