I'm touched by the appreciation so many of you have shown for the little memoir of my Father. I wrote it quite quickly, and didn't think it was as vivid a portrait of him as I would have liked to have drawn, so I am pleased that it sparked off so many good, if some painful, filial recollections for others.
Remembering one’s loved ones – particularly the older generation – is always poignant. So much regret at loss, unpaid emotional debts, and missed opportunities, wells up. But we shouldn’t allow guilt, or feelings of failure, to predominate: life is never easy or simple; it is what it is; and we just have to accept that it happened the way it did, and strive to apply its lessons to our own lives and present and future relationships.
My immediate family – parents, grandmother and aunt – are always with me every day, and I am profoundly thankful for all the love and care they gave me. I still miss them a lot. Today – 20th April – is another special family day, being my Grandfather’s birthday and my parents’ and grandparents’ wedding anniversary [1926 and 1896 respectively]. So I’m again in retrospective mood………..
