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My Dad was good at gardening. He grew lots of vegetables and shared them with the neighbors. My Mom was fun and helped people in need. She was also really good at math.
My dad up to the age of 10 beat the crap out of me almost daily, mostly for no apparent reason, setting an example to my younger brother and sister who were spared for whatever reason. I could never do no right he claimed, even though I tried my best to please him.
My mom, a domestic, told him off about the beatings, was going to report him, so he went into the barn and committed suicide.
My mom then got a low wage job at a manufacturing company to support us and I took part time jobs after school to help out.
My dad was good at sitting in the armchair and yelling at the T.V.
mine too!
my mom was good at being miserable and criticizing everything I did. she made good scrambled eggs and cinnamon toast. my dad was good at being a tyrant and yelling and flying into a rage.
Last edited by Tzaphkiel; 09-06-2015 at 09:35 PM..
My dad could make a lot of stuff and repair almost any household thing. Later in life he took up making furniture. I don't think a lot of the stuff he made was fabulous, but I do know he enjoyed the process. When I was growing up it was nothing though for him to remodel a basement or build a room on, or rewire something.
My mom was a bang up elementary teacher. Teaching was what she was born to do. She taught in retirement too. Imagine an 80+ year old teaching bible stories to 6th graders and other women. That was her. She taught in some respect almost all her adult life. In retirement, aside from teaching, she took up painting. She got pretty good in oils, but switched to watercolor later. I wish she had kept at the oil painting; she was better at it than the watercolors.
She was never a great cook, although she could follow a recipe. And she wasn't a great housekeeper either. But there are people alive today who have benefited from her teaching. It is amazing to me to think that some of her elementary students are in their seventies. I wonder if they remember her?
My parents were resourceful, always figured out how to make life a go when they were broke. Both blue collar workers, smart but uneducated because they had to work at a young age, always did the best they could. We didn't know we were poor-- during the holidays we always had great food and nice people around to have a good time. My mom was crafty, handy, great cook, sewed all of our clothes, and she had a wit that made everyone laugh. My dad liked to fish, and boy could he cook... he was a social man, when he passed away suddenly at 53 many people told us he gave them his last $2 or $5 because they needed it. They had fun, worked hard, kept a neat and clean home and taught me how to pray.
What kinds of special skills or talents did your parents have, aside from ordinary household chores and what they did for a living?
My dad was a semi-pro boxer, fighting preliminary bouts in the lightweight class, and was also a very good singer, singing lead in the local barbershop quarter.
Unusual for women in her time, my mom learned to drive a car in 1923, and lied about her age to get a license. Mom also rode in her brother's airplane in the 1930s.
These are things from a century ago, a time that younger generations refuse to believe even existed.
My parents NEVER slept past 8am, even on the weekend.
My guess is that less than 1% of you can claim that.
They were the hard workers I have ever encountered, by a long shot.
My Dad was a good provider. He had 3 jobs. He was a diesel mechanic in a local steel mill, and when he got off at 3 pm he had a snack truck and delivered chips and pretzels to bars. Then, at night, he was a jazz musician and played at local clubs until about 2 am. He kept that pace up for years.
My Mom was a great homemaker. Everything she did centered around the family and keeping us fed and taken care of. Both of them were just typical 50's parents whose lives revolved around their family.
This is a great idea for a thread, because by recalling their hobbies, it might help us link some traits we may have inherited:
Father was very good with his hands and could repair nearly anything, had a wood shop in the basement, made many things for the house and outside out of wood, had a knack for arranging flowers (his sisters owned a flower shop), was a "trivia master" -- knew nearly something about almost everything, but not what I'd call a specialist, except for his job with the government for 32 years, but that doesn't count; natural knack for saving and making money grow; an avid reader; since his youth, had always wanted to be a professional baseball player; very good with animals, especially dogs, as if they understood him; good at maintaining harmony among people, settling things, a calming influence.
Mother was a good illustrator, had a whip of a sense of humour, on the silly side, since youth always wanted to be a dancer on Broadway or in film; could cook anything with no recipes, and fast; could tap dance still, at the age of about 60, which I made her do on the front porch once! She was very good at math and liked working with numbers, even just for fun; loved to garden but never could make anything grow.
My mother was dumber then a box of rocks. She rarely cooked and kept a filthy house. She was best at being an alcoholic and feeling sorry for herself. My father was a very intelligent man that prided himself in being a womanizing, wife beating alcoholic. He wasted his talents by being frequently unemployed due to his multiple car accidents, call in's and DUI's. They were perfect for each other in their codependent alcoholism until my father decided that his new bimbo was more important then his family. He died shortly after he moved out at age 48.
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