Friday Five: Family

[fansee]

1. Did you grow up with your parents together as a unit? Yes, but. My father was drafted at the start of WWII and served as a doctor in the Army, either as a reservist or on active duty until he retired towards the end of the 1960's. Over the almost 30 years that he served, he was often overseas, in the South Pacific in WWII and in Japan in 1952

Comments

[spiffikins]

After my mom divorced my father, it was amazing how she just...uncoiled and relaxed for the first time in decades. My father needed to be "managed" All The Time. Meals had to be on the table at the expected time, because he went from 0 to 'hangry' within minutes. The whole household just was less fraught without him in the home - and while I was no longer living at home, it really made me think about how our childhood would have been, if they had split up when I was 7 or 8 and they *started* having problems getting along....

[fansee]

In our family, it was always Mama who got managed. My father, G-d bless him, just didn't notice irritants until they were brought forcefully to his attention. Things that drove Mama nutz rolled off Daddy's back, usually. What they agreed on was politics and the perfidy of the Republican party. News of the Day was always our dinnertime conversation, children's comments not requested but answered if volunteered. FanSee

[spikesgirl58]

That sounds like a great memory! :DD

TBG's parents were like that, too. They couldn't live together, but they honestly loved each other, so they live in a side-by-side duplex and TBG would go back and forth all day long. I never heard either of them speak a bad word about the other, either.

[fansee]

You know, despite my parents' differences, they raised four stable, pretty successful children, despite disruptive and difficult times. That's pretty damn impressive. FanSee

[spikesgirl58]

Same with my folks... well, three and my wild child of a brother, but that was my dad's fault. Our folks rocked.

[severina2001]

What a lovely memory of your Nana. I'm sorry you didn't get to see more of her after the move to California.

[fansee]

Nana raised me until shortly before my fifth birthday. Her influence on me was huge. Those are important years. FanSee