My dad. I have a lot of mixed feelings about him, as every child does even if they don’t admit it. Most of mine are positive.
To be clear, he is still alive. He’ll be 80 next month.
In his own way, he encouraged me in just about everything I ever did. The problem usually was that I didn’t appreciate his encouragement. Partly this stemmed from a profound misunderstanding between us of the reason for his encouragement—or perhaps I should say the purpose behind it. See, Dad was a Depression Baby. Even in today’s economically stressed climate, most people born during or after World War II really don’t grasp all that meant. …