Happy Birthday to My Father
Today is my father’s birthday as you can probably tell from the title of this entry.
I love my dad very much. He has always been in my corner when I have needed him. He has inspired me, encourage me, and love me. I know that I am so very lucky to have him in my life.
I love watching him with Caroline. He is really good with little kids. I watch him and remember when he did the same things with me when I was Caroline’s age. He made sure that he was part of our lives even when he was working late on some experiment or teaching a class or helping a graduate student. I can remember him reading to me. I still have the well worn copy of “Wind in the Willows” that we read through. It has traveled with me all over the place.
He encouraged all of us to read both by reading to us and reading in front of us. I think that is something that people forget when they encourage their kids to read. Children learn by example so seeing the adults read books, magazines, and newspapers, the child learns that this is normal and expected behavior. I can remember walking into the living room and both of my parents were reading when I was pretty young. Caroline thinks that reading is an activity that everyone in the family does. She has observed Ariel, Peter and me reading for pleasure and she is starting to do it herself.
He encouraged our love of science. I don’t think I would be as interested in how the physical world works if it hadn’t been for my dad. He use to take us to the planetarium and to look out telescopes to see the stars. He made us boxes so we could look at the eclipse safely. My parents signed me up for science camp at the Fernbank Science Center. I still have the telescope I made there oh so many years ago and it still works too.
He encouraged us to expand our vocabulary. Both of my parents made sure that we didn’t pick up any of the accents of the places we lived. Probably why more people have me pegged as a Canadian than they should. I tell them that I grew up in Atlanta and their first comment is, ‘You don’t have an accent.’ And I give credit to my parents for that. My father helped us with what words meant and if we used the wrong word or slang, he would tend to give us the correct word to use. I have been told that my vocabulary is rather erudite and I give credit to my father for that.
So Happy Birthday Da! I love you and Caroline told me to write that she loves her Pop-pop.
I am grateful that my parents gave me the tools I need to succeed at life.
I love my dad very much. He has always been in my corner when I have needed him. He has inspired me, encourage me, and love me. I know that I am so very lucky to have him in my life.
I love watching him with Caroline. He is really good with little kids. I watch him and remember when he did the same things with me when I was Caroline’s age. He made sure that he was part of our lives even when he was working late on some experiment or teaching a class or helping a graduate student. I can remember him reading to me. I still have the well worn copy of “Wind in the Willows” that we read through. It has traveled with me all over the place.
He encouraged all of us to read both by reading to us and reading in front of us. I think that is something that people forget when they encourage their kids to read. Children learn by example so seeing the adults read books, magazines, and newspapers, the child learns that this is normal and expected behavior. I can remember walking into the living room and both of my parents were reading when I was pretty young. Caroline thinks that reading is an activity that everyone in the family does. She has observed Ariel, Peter and me reading for pleasure and she is starting to do it herself.
He encouraged our love of science. I don’t think I would be as interested in how the physical world works if it hadn’t been for my dad. He use to take us to the planetarium and to look out telescopes to see the stars. He made us boxes so we could look at the eclipse safely. My parents signed me up for science camp at the Fernbank Science Center. I still have the telescope I made there oh so many years ago and it still works too.
He encouraged us to expand our vocabulary. Both of my parents made sure that we didn’t pick up any of the accents of the places we lived. Probably why more people have me pegged as a Canadian than they should. I tell them that I grew up in Atlanta and their first comment is, ‘You don’t have an accent.’ And I give credit to my parents for that. My father helped us with what words meant and if we used the wrong word or slang, he would tend to give us the correct word to use. I have been told that my vocabulary is rather erudite and I give credit to my father for that.
So Happy Birthday Da! I love you and Caroline told me to write that she loves her Pop-pop.
I am grateful that my parents gave me the tools I need to succeed at life.