Can Do Attitude

The Joy in the Journey,

Describe a positive thing a family member has done for you.

I grew up in a home with two energetic, creative, capable parents. One thing they loved to do was redecorate and remodel. My childhood home is on its third or fourth kitchen design.

Dad added an extra bedroom and bathroom in the basement, finished part of the basement for a rec room, transformed the garage into a family room, and so much more.

It seemed a natural progression for them to help my sisters and me with our homes. Friend Husband and I got into home ownership later than my sisters but my parents were still available to help transform our spaces.

The final project Dad did for us was a complete kitchen remodel. His health was declining so some of the time he sat while his partner in crime laid flooring or installed cabinets.

The irony here is that we now live in the home next to my mom/childhood home. Having been in and out of mom’s house for over 60 years now, I have an entire slide show in my mind of updates and changes they made over the years.

The home we live in is a mirror image of my childhood home. The two owners couldn’t have been more different. The owner of this home made very few changes so there are still some original fixtures in this home. Original meaning installed in 1957.

Sometimes I get caught in the “compare and contrast” mode and I have to remind myself that mom’s home is in its beautiful condition because it has been lovingly maintained and improved for almost 65 years.

We have been in this home for 5 years and I see many areas which could use improvement, redecoration, redesign. Dad is no longer with us but the memories of all those times spent working together will never fade.

9 thoughts on “Can Do Attitude”

  1. Beautiful posts as always. This is one that means the world to me. I’ve often been grateful to my parents for huge impact that they have had on my life. For instance, my dad once used to be a musical maestro with a lifelong passion for singing melodies. He would always perform songs at family dinners which left me in a state of amazement. By his love for music, my father gave me an appreciation for art. He taught me that it’s important to take one time to pursue art in one’s busy life. While he’s a banker by profession, he has always taken out time to pursue his musical aspiration. I will forever be grateful to my father for teaching me that music is an art which matters. A recent movie about a musical maestro that resonated with me was “Maestro”. Bradley Cooper’s biopic celebrated a legacy of an iconic classical composer. It reminded me of my bond with my dad who never lost his passions for singing melodies for the public. Here is why I recommend the film (if you have a love for music):

    “Maestro” (2023)- Movie Review

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  3. Let’s see. When I was still a baby my brother Jim rode over me with his bicycle. No, I do not remember this, but I was told many times that he wanted to see what would happen, whether I would barf or something if he squished my stomach. Brotherly love.
    When I was about 5 my brother Bob threw me into the local swimming hole to teach me to swim. When I didn’t came up a minute later he and snother brother had to dive in and rescue me — my foot was caught in a tree branch or something. It took me years to get over my fear of water.
    I’ve already told you how much my father “loved” to use me as a punching bag.
    But, yes, there was one good thing a family member did for me, though at the time I hated him for it. My brother Bill taught me to be charitable. No matter what the season when bad weather struck he had me outside helping other people who could not contend with the weather. Picking up broken tree branches after a windstorm, watering the neighbour’s grass during a drought, or going snow sh9velling around the neighbourhood after a big storm — and big storms happened a lot on the prairies in those days. One particularly bad storm left 4 feet of snow on our neighbour’s driveway. Her husband was not home and she was over 8 months pregnant. Bill and I shovelled out her driveway, it took a couple of hours. And just as we finished an ambulance came blaring down the street. It turned into the driveway, the ambjlance people rushed inside the house as we watched. They brought the lady out and rushed off with her. Later the ambulance driver came back to find out who had cleaned the driveway. He told us if not for our work they could never have got in through four feet of snow to rescue her. She survived a hard childbirth, and so did her baby. After that I no longer resented my brother always forcing me outside to help others. Now that I am oldef with an iffy heart, I cannot shovel snow anymore. But we have a group in town called the Snow Angels. They do our driveway for us when the snow piles up. We really appreciate them.

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