Uncle Thomas, My Dad, Uncle Gilbert circa 1898-99[/caption]Yesterday was the 117th anniversary of my father’s birth. He was born November 30, 1895. I really enjoy ruminating on what life must have been like at the turn of the 20th century.
Life was so different. My father didn’t have electricity in his home until he was 51 years old. I’m not aware of his traveling more than 200 miles from home until he was in his 6th decade; with the exception of a trip to France at Uncle Sam’s suggestion in 1918 and eloping in a horse-drawn buggy to Mississippi with my mother in December 1919.
My dad never was in an airplane and to my knowledge never talked on the telephone. He was not well educated, but he could feed and provide for a family with the work he invested in his little one-mule farm.
He taught me how to work hard. He taught me how to be honest. He taught me to be frugal. Come to think of it, he actually taught me how to have dreams; my mother taught me how to be frugal – but that’s another story.
He did not teach me how to be a bully. He did not teach me how to seek power over other people. He did not teach me how to win through intimidation. He did not teach me to bear a grudge.
He was proud of his family. I don’t recall him ever saying “I love you,” but there was never any doubt of his love because he gave so much of himself to his family.
My favorite Christmas story
In 1936, the day before Christmas, my dad walked into town (about five miles) and spent his last dollar to buy Christmas gifts for my brothers and sisters (I wasn’t born yet) – little things like a fountain pen and a pocket knife for my brothers and hair ribbons and barrettes for my sisters and some candy and apples. He got to put his name in a drawing at the mercantile store. To his delight, his name was selected for the ten-dollar grand prize. He didn’t buy the gifts because of the prize, like a lottery ticket. He did what pleased him most – he spent his last dollar to give his children a little joy at Christmas.
Where am I going here?
I love my memories of my family. Not because of wealth or possessions, but because of their commitment, encouragement, and acceptance of us.
Lots of people don’t have such warm memories of growing up. Some of those memories are downright awful and are made more so by reliving those memories over and over again with more pain and discouragement with every sequel.
It doesn’t have to be that way.
If negative memories haunt you, I promise you can escape those memories. You don’t have to be held captive by emotional pain from yesterday or from decades ago. I can share more on my website than I can share here so I invite you to visit right now to see if there’s a Christmas gift there for you.
You still have time to have a Merry Christmas by getting the painful Christmas memories out of the way.
All the best,
www.findingpersonalpeace.com
No comments:
Post a Comment