Many of my class mates and friends have vowed or mentioned in front of me that they are never going to become like their parents. I always laugh because I expect that they are probably a lot like their parents, but unlike me have yet to come to grips with reality. I have been influenced by my father, by being around his Trekiness, being subjected to his strange mannerisms and sense of humor, and many other ways in which he lives and relates with others have rubbed off onto me.
I was raised in a small town of around 200 residents, in a mainly rural county in northeastern Kansas, where I was raised in a Christian home by my father and mother with my siblings. My father was around 35 years old, 5’ 10”, and 200 pounds with a head of thinning hair. He was young with a respectable amount of energy and spent a fair amount of time playing with me and my siblings in our backyard. My mother was 34 years old, 5’ 9”, and 120 pounds, full of life, always experimenting with recipes in the kitchen and forcing us, while helping us, to do our 4-H fair projects.
I don’t remember exactly what age I am when I can remember that my father’s actions had a measurable impact on me but I think I was around 7-8. I would ride my bike to my grandparent’s house, which is also the family farm, and try to find something to do like play in the shed, chase wild cats, or explore out back. When it was the right season like mid spring or late fall, I would ride with my father a tractor, combine, or semi truck for hours. We listened, and occasionally sang to Oldies ’95 on the radio, talked about crops, or what was going on in school. I believe that it was during these countless long hours with my father that I developed my deep enjoyment of the Oldies and know most of the lyrics for many songs quite well.
Another thing that I remember that my father has influenced me in is his rules. They were not always the normal house rules that my friends parent’s had but ones that I thought were a little much at the time. One such example is the rules that when we ate together. Everyone had to be seated at the table, the television had to be turned off, and you were to sit quietly unless you had something to say about school or if mother or father asked you a question. Much of the etiquette at the kitchen table I felt was a little strict at the time but now I find it difficult not to say things to people if they are not following those rules. Another place where my father had a rule, which I thought was strict, was when we were watching television or a movie. Fairly often we would sit together as a family and watch, well… whatever dad wanted to watch, whether the news, a television show, or a movie. When we were watching television, or in the room that had the television when father was watching something, there was to be relative silence. Talking over commercials was permitted but even then the subject matter of what you talked about was usually subject to idea of whether or not now was the time to be talking about such things. This is something that has really stuck with me, even with really good friends I tend to shy away from having discussions while a television is on, and I despise people who talk during movies, even if I have seen the movie more than once it just upsets me when they talk during it.
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