SADNESS

         I have one memory of my son's sadness that remains with me.

        Me !  of all people went to cub camp. There were about 50 kids and we were at a permanent scout facility 

. We were tenting and I was with my son and two of his friends. The tent and tenting was chaotic. They had a hard time getting ready for tent inspection. Many good  activities were organized for the kids. 

      One activity was archery. Supervisors took a few kids and showed  them how to shoot with a bow and arrow. the kids plunked away at some targets and had a good time except for one kid. MINE!

      When the activity was over and the equipment was being put away, I found my son in great distress. He did not have any success in archery. I could always tell when my son was in distress. There were sobs and tears. I suggested to him that we get the archery equipment and go by ourselves and try archery.

     Brian is a lefty. Right handers were teaching the kids to use the archery equipment. He could not function from the right. It was hard for me to show him how to shoot right. Somehow we got the proper procedure. You guessed it. He nailed some targets and immediately he was happy with his success. 

     I will never forget how absolutely crushed he was by not being able to use  archery equipment.

SO MANY QUESTIONS

           which part of your life surprises you the most, and why ?

          I suppose what surprised me most is that I actually took the plunge and went north. I thought I was just on a fun adventure but it turned out to have some very substantial influences on the remainder of my life.  I suppose part of the change involved maturing. I was 23 when I went north. 

        Now, at that time   in my life I had another option. If I hadn't gone north, there was a good chance that I would have blundered back to the farm. That would have been a poor choice.

• if you could change one thing about your life, what would it be, and why would you want to change it

           Well, come on. You want to limit me to one thing? I don't think so.  

        I don't think there's really anything that I would like to change. You always look at what might have been. You say well, I was interested in forest or wildlife work but that was unrealistic. 

        I would really like to have travelled much more after I retired. We did okay for a couple of years after retirement but then that was it.  Travelling opens up the whole world. The things you learn while travelling fit in with your life experiences and make them more meaningful.

       I would like to have stayed with education after retirement and supervised student teachers. I had the opportunity but I wanted to get away from education and be with other people. That was the right decision. 

• when was the happiest time in your life, and what made it so great?

      My happiest time is when I had little kids. Little kids are extremely unpredictable and love you with all your faults. Kids made Christmas and trips  happy events. Remember the trip to Disneyland? Remember good times at the lake. Those times wouldn't have been nearly as happy if kids weren't involved. There are many family stories that wouldn't be there without kids. And yes, I've said it before , I was sad to see you guys leave!

• when was the saddest or worst time in your life, and what made it so?

              The saddest time in my life is when I left home and went to teachers' college, I was intensely homesick. I was not ready in any sense to leave home. I had not been given an opportunity to be independent and make my own decisions. I wanted to go back home every minute of the day. I could not study and didn't know the ropes on how to study.. I had gone to a one teacher high school with less than 25 kids. In teachers' College there were 400 students in a very large building. I found it difficult to get to know people  I persevered and kept at it and gradually   things got better. 

      So "endeth" the questions on my life. I'm sure there are more. The questions made me reflect on various events in my life. Many memories were brought back. I was surprised by the comments from readers and how interested you were with the interaction between father and daughter.