y'know, i've commented countless times

[mopinko]

that not many little girls in the 60's had a dad that told them they could be anything they wanted, but i did.
what i had forgotten, until recently, is that to him, i was a bright star.
it's my time to shine, da.
life is good.

[OAITW r.2.0]

1. You had a good dad.

[mopinko]

3. in a lot of ways.

his health failed and he turned to drink while i was still small. but we had some shining years.
my sibs are mad that i'm "rewriting history"
tough shit.

ahead of his time in MYRIAD ways,

[elleng]

2. I did too, and 'my time' occurred some years ago;

fortunately Dad was around to share in it.

Keep shining, mopinko!

[rubbersole]

4. If a parent instills self-confidence in their child...

they've done a good job. Other positive character qualities are bonuses.

[mopinko]

5. esp girls, and esp then.

he was so ahead of his time in sooo many ways. ie-he built a model of a wave turbine to generate electricity from ocean currents. wanted to put it on the continental shelf. head of physics at u of c said it was feasible.
maybe it would have been diff if he'd had 6 sons and 1 daughter instead of the reverse, but...

[rubbersole]

6. Women are physically/mentally superior to men...

there - I said it. (I'm male). The only example necessary- what if men had to give birth? There'd be abortion services at the 7-11.

[ailsagirl]

7. My mom always told me that--

[liberalla]

8. You were very lucky. I wish my dad had cared and encouraged me.

[mopinko]

9. completely aware of my fortune.

i've had a pretty unbelievably lucky life. for a person who was raised dirt poor, and lived half my life dirt poor, i have to pinch myself.
beyond anything a granddaughter of refugees had any reason to hope for, despite being told there were no limits.

[mopinko]

10. ya know, man, my lounge thread generally sink.

but i'm super happy this is taking hold.

all y'all who had flawed dads that made you who you are, sound off.
float the flawed dads here.

[Irish_Dem]

11. My first generation Irish-American father thought the same thing.

His daughters had the same rights, privileges and future as his sons.

Interestingly, he grew up in an Irish home, his parents were immigrants to the US.
His sisters ate toast and tea in the kitchen while the boys ate meat in the dining room.

My father threw off the old ways and totally embraced his new home, the United States of America.
But he was still quite Irish, just the Irish American version. The same version as Joe Biden.
Same as your Da.

[mopinko]

12. i joke about how hard they tried to make us americans

that we barely knew what it meant to be irish. both my folks were 1st gen, tho my mom's da was here since about 1800.
my older sibs grew up surrounded by family, but i was born at the end of the train line. we saw them, but not enough to hear the stories.

it was an understandable plan. he screwed it up by letting me follow him around in the garden. pretty sure that's why i'm the only one who went looking for my irish.

[Irish_Dem]

13. We didn't need to hear the stories. We knew we were different from other people.

Fiercely independent, dancing bears to no one, pride of self and country.

Willing to fight to the death to protect and serve others.

Abhorrence for any kind of bully.

Sharp wit and humor.

A charm and affability covering up intensity.

OK I won't mention the wakes, and family reunions.

[Irish_Dem]

14. I want to add freedom loving. The Irish were brutally subjugated by the Brits for 1000 years.

Coming to the US was intoxicating to them.

[mopinko]

15. yeah. also have often said i never heard either of my parents

make any kind of prejudiced statement. i got that from them. so, i guess on that score i'm not a very good american.

[Irish_Dem]

16. Same here, never heard anything remotely close to prejudiced comments.

I had another layer, I was a military brat.
My father had utmost respect for everyone he worked with.
They were all part of the team that kept him alive as he flew combat.

[highplainsdem]

17. I did not get much encouragement from my parents. Fortunately, I did get lots of

Last edited Mon Sep 5, 2022, 10:35 AM - Edit history (1)

encouragement from educators, both teachers and admins, including a college dean who told me he wanted me to be his lawyer if I decided to go to law school (I realized later he probably made similar comments to lots of students) while he was weighing in on a disagreement betwen my adviser and me on whether I should be allowed to take 24 hours of classes, including honors classes, in one semester (my adviser, who'd apparently missed the memo on the importance of encouraging kids, lost the argument and actually muttered something about giving me enough rope to hang myself, which made me laugh).

I did feel that my parents could and should have been more encouraging. But both of them had similarly been let down by a lack of parental encouragement, and what I knew of my grandfather suggested the problem went back farther. My parents' marriage was a miserable one, too, which left them with less time and energy to focus on encouraging their kids. They weren't neglectful in most ways. They just weren't encouraging, but we spent as much time as possible away from them anyway.

I think it's wonderful when parents do encourage their kids.

But my own experience taught me that encouragement is something we should ALL offer everyone we're in any position to encourage and help. Not just family and friends. Not just people we're formally expected to help.

We should all pursue our dreams, while at the same time doing what we can to help others. Even the people who haven't helped us, who might have let us down (especially if we have any idea why they weren't able to offer help and encouragement).

[mopinko]

18. funny thing about that-

he thought that despite the fact that every damn report card day, and he was there for most of them, contained the words- not living up to her potential.

that was because i had subtle health issues, including the ai disease that destroyed him, and lingering effects of having my head smashed at 6. only now is the science catching up w that.
but god love him, he believed in me anyway.

[highplainsdem]

19. Oh, God, you suffered a head injury when you were 6? I'm so sorry, Mo.

And yes, teachers are much more aware of any learning disabilities, and how to overcome them, than they were decades ago.

[mopinko]

22. hit between the eyes by a baseball bat.

dead for a minute. yup.
had hallucinations/seizures for a decade. didnt dare tell mom.

but i tell my enemies they cant even cut my life short.

[highplainsdem]

23. That's horrifying. You didn't tell anyone about the hallucinations and seizures?

[mopinko]

24. nope.

i didnt find them that odd. recurrent things. 1 was sorta fun. the ones i had when i went to bed were scary, but brief. i knew they'd pass and i'd fall asleep. i just figured it was 1 more way i was just weird.
they knew nothing then. they didnt even call it a concussion, tho i was out cold. and the bright red blood gushing out my my nose would also be a clue.
any doc today would know the inside of my head was as bruised as my face. had a lot of little ticks til recently.
same w the shogrens. docs take that a lot more serious now, but 20 yrs ago when i got went nile, only me primary thought that's what was still making me sick. she just didnt know how.

had quite a few concussions. i was half goat as a kid. more weird.

[lark]

20. Our dad believed in his girls too.

He always was challenging us with spelling and meaning quizzes and giving us very positive reinforcement and so both of us read far above our age and were honor students and graduated from college with honors as well.

Dad was a fundamentalist and a Rush Limpballs listener, but he did believe in education, science and his girls. Don't know how he would have been in these horrible times, he totally supported GW and Reagan, but know he would have had big issues with the anti-science and anti-health messages. He died 12 years ago.

[we can do it]

21. It was my grandma that kept telling me I could be whatever I wanted to be.

[Ocelot II]

25. My dad was that way, too.

He always encouraged me; when I graduated from law school he was so proud I thought he was going to explode. That was a big deal for him, me following in his footsteps.

[mopinko]

26. yeah. he rly wanted me to be a doc.

he was on his way when the depression hit. had to quit and help run the family biz.

[Upthevibe]

27. mopinko................Excellent post about your dad...When I'm more awake

I'll post about my wonderful, incredible dad and what he did for and meant to me.

Thanks for the post..

[UTUSN]

28. My dad was quiet

[mopinko]

29. that was mom.

i rly didnt know how smart she was. she must kept her head down and worked.
she prolly wasnt like that w the older kids, but by the time i was in school she was working cuz da couldnt.
since that's the rebel branch of the family, i still find it a bit odd. but her da was the same way. a gentle, quiet man.

[Sogo]

30. My dad once said to me, as a young college student in the late 60's:

"You know, I always thought you could do whatever you put your mind to."