Father's Day 2011 — my dad

At the end of his life, I was estranged from my father due to his relationships with money and others. That was beyond unfortunate on a variety of levels. On the brighter side…

My father taught me many things while growing up on a farm. I learned how to do all sorts of construction and farm labor ranging from pouring concrete to feeding cows. He taught me about welding, plumbing, fishing, using a transit, navigation, fishing, boating and camping. We went boating or flying in Canada a dozen times before I was 19 years old.

We had incredibly crazy father-son misadventures together. We have been towed to shore in a boat by the coast guard in 3 countries. In hindsight, we could have had some really fantastic times together with lots of love and laughter. He was a somber serious man and so activities were always more of a survival mission than a recreational activity. I have become quite the survivor. Not so good at having fun.

I try to write all, or mostly all, good things in my gratitude posts. It is hard to do with my father do to how much tragedy comes up when I reflect on our relationship. We spent a lot of time together and there were many good parts of our relationship. Yet we still ended up being estranged when he died due to the bad parts of his relationships with money and others. Worse yet, he was a wealthy man with no fiscal need for one-sided financial relationships.

I love my father and am grateful for all he taught me. He achieved a lot more financial success in his life than I will ever come close to doing in my life. There is a good chance that I am happier than he was. I know I have less conflict in my life than he did in his.