[Thirty-Day Meme] - Day 03
Aug. 13th, 2010 04:23 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
alliancesjrYour parents, in great detail
I've been looking forward to this, actually, because my parents are, unlike myself, very interesting people. They've shaped me to be who I am, and have been constantly referred to by almost all of my friends as "The Coolest Parents Ever". This is because they don't try to be The Coolest Parents ever - they disciplined1 me like crazy2, prevented me from taking part in fun after-school activities when my grades were horrible, and I had to buy any and all video games with my own money.
In short, my parents ruled because they were parents. They didn't try to be the Cool Parents (and thus completely suck at it).
My mother.
One of the most important things about my parents is that they learned, early on, that nothing was going to fall into their laps. Both of their families had hardships, and worked extremely hard to get where they are.
My mother was the second of three children who grew up on the North Shore3. Her father owned a factory in the city. He always kept up with new technology, and he even owned a small plane that he kept up at Waukegan. I think it was a Cessna, I'll have to ask my mother, she knows for sure.4
She didn't grow up spoiled, though. She got a job at her dad's factory when she was a teenager and needed money of her own.
She met my father at college, where he proceeded to batter down her defenses with some expertly-placed staring-across-the-lecture-hall, a couple run-around-campus-to-"accidentally"-bump-into-her, and a few awkward Drunk Dial Incidents. Eventually, she relented and went on a date with him, to find out that he actually was a pretty decent guy.
When I was three years old, she started up a sporting goods store. I grew up in that store; I eventually started working there when I was old enough. Her resourcefulness and dedication to hard work quickly brought the store into a destination for school-age and even amateur adult athletes across the Greater Chicagoland Area. Other stores stopped selling soccer shoes specifically because they could not compete with her on her level.
She also possesses what I jokingly refer to as a Mutant Healing Factor. Long story short, this woman sets records (I am not making this up) at hospitals in terms of surgery recovery time. This is partially due to the fact that she makes a point of doing all the physical therapy assigned to her, but that's only in part. Here are some more examples.
She's probably the biggest jock I know. She's also a pretty hardcore sci-fi geek. She introduced me to a lot of awesome things as I was growing up. Her favorite movies involve time-travel or baseball.5
There's more to be said, but I think I should probably move on.
My father.
(I'm sorry, I don't have a very good picture of him on my computer.)
Where my mother grew up on the North Shore, my father is the result of Irish Birth Control. A middle child in a litter of seven, he too learned that everything is achieveable through hard work. His parents, a machinist and a nurse, did everything they could to provide for their children, but they were also expected to hold up their end of the household. When he turned 18, my father worked at least three part-time jobs at the same time.
This work ethic served my family well when, as my mother was getting the store up and running, he had to work several jobs to put food on the table for myself and my older sister. We never went hungry, but he went to bed extremely tired.
He is currently in the final years of his career as a high-school Biology teacher. He served his school at various points as the webmaster and technology lead, and is still the one who gets called instead of IT.
My father always keeps up with new technology, and made certain that Physics Sister and I always learned what we could. He'd bring computers home from work and let us play games, and the family computers were always available for us. It was because of this, actually, that he has his favorite story of me.6
He also made certain that I knew how to do various things around the house and on the car. I know how to fix various things around the house that my friends don't know how to do. I also am being asked by Trekkiegirl to teach her how to change the tire on her car, which is something I feel everyone needs to know before they drive.
I get my sense of humor from both my parents, but my mother insists - despite evidence - that I get my love of bad puns from my father alone. We tease him because he always shifts in his seat and/or adjusts his glasses before making a bad joke. His students always learn that about him, too; halfway through a semester, all he has to do is pause and they'll start pre-emptively groaning. (I once asked him if he did that during behavior analysis - specifically Pavlov - and he said no, but he wished it was part of it.)
Every single one of my morals and ethics come from my father. I am always polite to people when meeting them for the first time, I always offer my assistance if there's something I can do to help. All that is because of what he taught me about people and life.
I've been looking forward to this, actually, because my parents are, unlike myself, very interesting people. They've shaped me to be who I am, and have been constantly referred to by almost all of my friends as "The Coolest Parents Ever". This is because they don't try to be The Coolest Parents ever - they disciplined1 me like crazy2, prevented me from taking part in fun after-school activities when my grades were horrible, and I had to buy any and all video games with my own money.
In short, my parents ruled because they were parents. They didn't try to be the Cool Parents (and thus completely suck at it).
My mother.
One of the most important things about my parents is that they learned, early on, that nothing was going to fall into their laps. Both of their families had hardships, and worked extremely hard to get where they are.
My mother was the second of three children who grew up on the North Shore3. Her father owned a factory in the city. He always kept up with new technology, and he even owned a small plane that he kept up at Waukegan. I think it was a Cessna, I'll have to ask my mother, she knows for sure.4
She didn't grow up spoiled, though. She got a job at her dad's factory when she was a teenager and needed money of her own.
She met my father at college, where he proceeded to batter down her defenses with some expertly-placed staring-across-the-lecture-hall, a couple run-around-campus-to-"accidentally"-bump-into-her, and a few awkward Drunk Dial Incidents. Eventually, she relented and went on a date with him, to find out that he actually was a pretty decent guy.
When I was three years old, she started up a sporting goods store. I grew up in that store; I eventually started working there when I was old enough. Her resourcefulness and dedication to hard work quickly brought the store into a destination for school-age and even amateur adult athletes across the Greater Chicagoland Area. Other stores stopped selling soccer shoes specifically because they could not compete with her on her level.
She also possesses what I jokingly refer to as a Mutant Healing Factor. Long story short, this woman sets records (I am not making this up) at hospitals in terms of surgery recovery time. This is partially due to the fact that she makes a point of doing all the physical therapy assigned to her, but that's only in part. Here are some more examples.
- She was diagnosed a couple years ago with breast cancer. Not only did they catch it really quickly, but she responded so well to treatment that she was in remission before her treatments were over with. She didn't even have to have any chemotherapy; just the bladder/catheter/pellet thing. I don't know what it's called.
Anyway, to this day, it hasn't returned. My mother punched breast cancer in the face and it's scared to come back. - She had Scoliosis. The really severe kind, where it would have killed her by 16 if she hadn't had it corrected. She was the first person in the state to get the metal rod down her back; essentially, the procedure fused her spine together and had the metal rod to keep it in place. Either during or after college, she had a skiing accident which dislocated her shoulder, and she had some other complications. It wasn't until much later that they found out that the accident also snapped the metal rod. She didn't even notice for years.
- She's 5'1", 100 lbs, and can probably bench-press me. I don't know if that has anything to do with her healing factor, but it merits mentioning. I mean, you can see how skinny she is in the above photo. The woman is a NINJA MACK TRUCK.
She's probably the biggest jock I know. She's also a pretty hardcore sci-fi geek. She introduced me to a lot of awesome things as I was growing up. Her favorite movies involve time-travel or baseball.5
There's more to be said, but I think I should probably move on.
My father.
(I'm sorry, I don't have a very good picture of him on my computer.)
Where my mother grew up on the North Shore, my father is the result of Irish Birth Control. A middle child in a litter of seven, he too learned that everything is achieveable through hard work. His parents, a machinist and a nurse, did everything they could to provide for their children, but they were also expected to hold up their end of the household. When he turned 18, my father worked at least three part-time jobs at the same time.
This work ethic served my family well when, as my mother was getting the store up and running, he had to work several jobs to put food on the table for myself and my older sister. We never went hungry, but he went to bed extremely tired.
He is currently in the final years of his career as a high-school Biology teacher. He served his school at various points as the webmaster and technology lead, and is still the one who gets called instead of IT.
My father always keeps up with new technology, and made certain that Physics Sister and I always learned what we could. He'd bring computers home from work and let us play games, and the family computers were always available for us. It was because of this, actually, that he has his favorite story of me.6
He also made certain that I knew how to do various things around the house and on the car. I know how to fix various things around the house that my friends don't know how to do. I also am being asked by Trekkiegirl to teach her how to change the tire on her car, which is something I feel everyone needs to know before they drive.
I get my sense of humor from both my parents, but my mother insists - despite evidence - that I get my love of bad puns from my father alone. We tease him because he always shifts in his seat and/or adjusts his glasses before making a bad joke. His students always learn that about him, too; halfway through a semester, all he has to do is pause and they'll start pre-emptively groaning. (I once asked him if he did that during behavior analysis - specifically Pavlov - and he said no, but he wished it was part of it.)
Every single one of my morals and ethics come from my father. I am always polite to people when meeting them for the first time, I always offer my assistance if there's something I can do to help. All that is because of what he taught me about people and life.
- When I say "disciplined", only rarely do I mean "hit". And even then, spankings and such when we were younger. True, my mother once got angry enough that she punched me in the arm - and it hurt like hell - but I knew I had messed up.
- Never inappropriately. No, we always knew that the punishment was deserved.
- In Chicago Suburbs terms (for those of you who reside elsewhere), the North Shore is where all the money is. Lots of WASPs, extra-priviledged kids.
- That's a bit of a sore spot for her, actually. Her parents were taking a short flight when they crashed. To this day, my mother refuses to be in any plane smaller than a 727.
- Which is why she loves Field of Dreams so much.
- When I was three, and we were at the Travel Agent, I wandered off and hopped on an unattended computer. My parents tried to get me away, but the lady nearby said it was fine, and I couldn't get into anything important. When next they looked over, I was playing Tetris. The lady didn't even know they had Tetris.
(no subject)
Date: 2010-08-13 10:38 pm (UTC)Your parentals sound like hella-cool people. I wish I could have met them on my last visit.