Posts Tagged ‘dad’
Blending Family – Natural Parent’s Role Critical to Stepparent Success
#stepparent #stepchildren #blendingfamily As I wrote in my previous posting on the role of a stepparent, my wife Melinda and I are coming up on our 26th anniversary. We spent last Saturday evening with my stepson, Matt, and his wife Kristina at the North Carolina Jazz Festival, and I was reminded of how fortunate I…
Read MoreEpiphany, the 12th Day of Christmas, Ended the Season in My Boyhood Home.
#epiphany #chrsitmasseason #holidays Another Christmas season is history. When I was a boy, it felt as though the high point in the year was over and the long uneventful winter stretched out as far ahead as I cared to imagine. I longed for summer when the festivities of the holidays were a distant memory, and…
Read MoreDecorating the Christmas Tree Signaled the Start of the Season.
#christmas #1950s #decorating #christmastree My earliest memories of Christmas, reinforced by family movies, include decorating the Christmas tree, a task that sign. “You can bring the tree in now, Daddy,” mother would call after she had spread an oilcloth on the carpet in the living room where it was to be placed. In the 1940’s, Christmas…
Read MoreDivorce Makes Christmas Holidays Challenging.
#divorce #christmas #family Divorce creates a crater in the continuity of life. It usually separates one parent from daily contact the children and the emotional security of being able to look back with detachment on all that transpired in their life as a family. Recently, I tried to review movie film of my young family…
Read MoreTeenage Pregnancy a la 1956. My How Things Have Changed.
In 1956, terminating a pregnancy for any reason was not an option. So when a high school girl told her steady boy that she was pregnant, his life entered free fall. Until his parents intervened, he would have no idea what to do next. At 17 or younger, he was not equipped to take charge,…
Read MoreFather and Son
July 18 is my dad’s birthday. He was born in 1904 and died in 1980 just weeks before attaining age 76. The picture to the right is Dad with my two sons, Joe and Jim, on his lap. The picture was taken when Dad was in his late 50’s. In Deadly Portfolio: A Killing in…
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