Category: Elder Folk
For those who have lost their parents, what do you remember most about them? I remember my dad. He was the John Wane type, rugged, rustic, simple, and loved life. He was a cowboy and red neck in every sense of the word; yet, his common sense clashed with his wild side. Docile one minute, a Texas tornado the next, his moods were sometimes unpredictable.He laughed, his laughter filling any room he was in.
Mom on the other hand was stoic and reserved. Refined and aristocratic, she was the lady who lived on the wrong side of the tracks. They loved each other, but they were so different.
Neat thread! Thanks for starting this.
My mother is still alive, but I remember several things about my father. He took responsibility very seriously, and I think I inherrited that trait from him. The older I get the more I see myself in him and vice versa. My dad loved cigars. I can't smell one to this day without thinking of him carrying me around at amusement parks.
Hi. Well, it's funny how smells can bring back certain memories about them. My parents passed 14 months apart, and it's been almost 20 years. I can sometimes smell something, and think "Wow, that smells like my dad's cooking, or his shaving soap, (etc). Their voices and the big things about them seem faded. It's the little things I remember most. Thanks for posting.
I haven't posted on this topic for quite awhile, so I thought I would today.
I began to think of the things which seem to be vanishing. My dad, to me, was the last of the really old cowboys, though I know some are still around. I mean the kind who sit by camp fires, who drive old pickup trucks, who drink to drown sorrows, and laugh till it hurts.
I love this age I'm living in, but I still miss my parents, and what they stood for:
morals, values, decency, treating people with respect.
My mom was such a lady, but she never was judgemental or critical of others who differed from her views or ways of thinking. In a sense, her kind is vanishing also, though I know a lot of older women like her.
What I remember today about my parents was their sense of idenity, of knowing who they were, and how they taught their kids to actually love them as well as other people. I think in a sense that's going too
Is it just me, or do other older folks feel this way? Am I imagining things, or are things really vanishing? My grand kids have said things to me I'd never say to my grand parents. My kids wait weeks to call me. I called my parents at least once a week, and visited twice a month.
I sometimes wonder if expectations are growing less, and impathy is growing more. There's so many traits I remember about my parents, that I don't see today. . And I'm not being critical of the young folks. Goodness knows, they need all the encouragement and credit we can give them. But still, this age is not the same as it was when I was younger
Interesting point about visiting family. I think several things have contributed to the way we treat our elders over the years. The pace at which we live has markedly increased from when I was a child. As a result, families spend less time together. I can still remember my mother putting several hours work into dinner. Now we can look in the store and see how many "convenience" foods there are. As a result of the more frantic pace at which we live, I don't think many of us are used to sitting down with our elders and taking the time to really communicate with them. I know as my mother's health has gotten worse, it is harder to communicate with her considering her hearing loss, vision loss, and cognitive losses. I can only do it once or twice a week for an hour or two, because it is very taxing emotionally and mentally. That doesn't mean I won't continue to try. I'm not excusing the way we treat our parents, just offering a possible explanation.
Lou