Meme; Day 03
Day 03 - Your parents, in great detail
My Dad - His name is John, but in my whole life I have never known anyone who calls him that. He goes by Couter. I have asked the reason before and I always get some sort of mumbled response or change of subject - I kinda think he has no idea. My father didn't graduate from high school - I am told he punched the principal in the face right before graduating and got expelled and never went back. I am not sure that is true. I am also told he ran away from home when he was 15 or so because his father was an abusive alcoholic. My dad only half followed in his father's footsteps on that one - he was an alcoholic, not abusive - thank goodness. He has been drinking alcohol since about the time he should have graduated from high school, probably even before then. Smoking as well. He likes small towns although when he met my mother he lived in Calgary, the biggest city in Alberta. Maybe the small town thing is a newer like - I don't know. When I was little my dad worked for the Alberta Wheat Pool - that's where farmers would take their grain to have it weighed and then they would sell it to the wheat pool and then they would load it on trains and take it to factories that make it into flour and whatnot. At least, that is how I always understood it. While working for the Wheat Pool dad was transferred a lot. We lived in 5 different towns in as many years. Then my dad was transferred to Carmangay and only a short while later was laid off (I am not sure how short of a while - I was pretty young). I think my dad got really depressed around this time and started drinking even more heavily than he had before. All through the rest of my growing up years he was only employed on and off here and there and in the off times he drank. I won't lie, he drank during the on times, but he drank a lot more during the off times. I left for college and he was working for the town and it looked like he was doing okay - he got his GED and was taking courses on how to treat water and do other such things. They fired him because of some reason or another - he says it was because they didn't like the image he was putting off since he was in the bar every night, but I think it might partly have been that he didn't pass his water test a couple times in a row. Anyway, then he started drinking more again - at this point I was in Oregon already.
The thing about beer is that when you drink as much of it as my father did your stomach becomes really full and you don't eat much in the way of food (or you eat a lot and get a beer belly - but not in this case). My dad has never been a big eater, but he pretty much stopped eating and just drank a lot of calories. Then he started getting sick. I don't really remember the order of things - but he was in the hospital a couple times for weakness and edema that would come and go in his feet and hands. Then one day he went to have some blood work done and came home, the hospital said they would call with the results (my parents live 30 mins from the closest hosp). One of the things my dad loves the most is going for a drive out on the back-roads somewhere. He was smart enough to know that when he was as pissed as he was he shouldn't drive (he wasn't always that smart - but this time he was) so he grabbed my older brother and they went for a drive. JR says he was driving and dad was saying something and he was slurring really badly - moreso than just his usual drunken slurs - so JR looked over at him and saw that his face was completely slack on one side like a stroke. JR freaked out and headed home. In the meantime the hospital called my parents' house and told my mom that dad needed to come back to the hospital as soon as possible because he was not okay. They took him to the hospital in Vulcan, and then on to Calgary. They did tons of MRI's and cts but couldn't see where the stoke was localized - so that was good, no permanent damage from that - but there was still the fact that his kidneys were almost completely failed (but his liver was totally fine - go figure) and he was extremely malnourished. I really thought he was going to die around this time - but he slowly got better. He checked himself out of the hospital early since he hated being woken up at absurd hours of the night so that he could have tests run. At one point he went to the doctor and asked how long he had to live. The doctor told him that it could be a long time if he treated himself right. He told my mom that if she had said anything less than 6 months he would have started drinking again. I am so glad he didn't. Mom says that he has only had maybe one beer since that day when he had the stroke. He still smokes a lot, but he doesn't drink at all. I haven't seen him a whole lot since that since I live so far away but I have talked to him on the phone and seen pics and every time I am amazed. On one hand he is still so the same - he can be so crusty and easily irritated about stupid things and he tells me stories I don't care about over and over again. But on the other hand he is so different - and I am not sure I can explain the difference. The time he had the stroke was also not too long after my nephew was born and it is so amazing to see him play with his grandson. I can't wait to have my own kids so that they can get to know him the way he is now. Not that he was ever terrible to us - he wasn't. It's just ... indescribable.
My Mom - Her name is Weltha and she is more unique than her name (I think she was actually named after someone so there is at least one other Weltha out there). She was raised LDS but after graduating from high school and deciding nursing school wasn't right for her she moved to Calgary with her sister and became inactive. I think she even lived with some guy at some point but I don't know much about it. She met and married my dad and followed him around as he was transferred all over southern Alberta. Then when he got laid off she got a myriad of jobs to help support the family - working for a grocery store, doing home care, working at the post office, and eventually working as a nurses aide in a long-term care facility. When I was about to enter high school I think she realized that my dad couldn't be depended on to hold a job for very long (not that that was entirely his fault - small towns mean stuff closes) so she almost on a whim decided to apply to go back to school to be - of all things - a nurse. She got in and for two and half years she went to school every week day and worked every weekend day to support us. She graduated when I was 17 - just before I graduated from High School. Because of this she will always be an inspiration to me. She showed me that hard work pays off and that you can get what you want if you work for it.
Also, my mom is my best friend. I tell her things I would never tell anyone else and I know that she loves me and still will no matter when I say. I remember in high school when people would talk about going to keg parties my friends would all get together and we would talk about what they told their parents they were doing that evening I always got strange looks because I would just say "I told my mom I was going to this keg party". The other kids didn't understand how I could tell my mom that and still be allowed to go - but she trusted me. She knew I had a brain and I could make good decisions on my own and that I WOULD make good decisions on my own. She is still inactive in the church, but not because of a lack of a testimony. She tells me all the time that she believes in the Church but because she smokes as well I think she is embarrassed to go to church. I happen to look quite a lot like my mother and apparently I have a lot of the same qualities as well - people tell me all the time. When she is around I groan and pretend I am annoyed, but really, I am glad. If there is anyone in my life I would want to be like it is her.
The Topics List:
Day 01 - Introduce yourself
Day 02 - Your first love, in great detail
Day 03 - Your parents, in great detail
Day 04 - What you ate today, in great detail
Day 05 - Your definition of love, in great detail
Day 06 - Your day, in great detail
Day 07 - Your best friend, in great detail
Day 08 - A moment, in great detail
Day 09 - Your beliefs, in great detail
Day 10 - What you wore today, in great detail
Day 11 - Your siblings, in great detail
Day 12 - What’s in your bag, in great detail
Day 13 - This week, in great detail
Day 14 - What you wore today, in great detail
Day 15 - Your dreams, in great detail
Day 16 - Your first kiss, in great detail
Day 17 - Your favorite memory, in great detail
Day 18 - Your favorite birthday, in great detail
Day 19 - Something you regret, in great detail
Day 20 - This month, in great detail
Day 21 - Another moment, in great detail
Day 22 - Something that upsets you, in great detail
Day 23 - Something that makes you feel better, in great detail
Day 24 - Something that makes you cry, in great detail
Day 25 - A first, in great detail
Day 26 - Your fears, in great detail
Day 27 - Your favorite place, in great detail
Day 28 - Something that you miss, in great detail
Day 29 - Your aspirations, in great detail
Day 30 - One last moment, in great detail
My Dad - His name is John, but in my whole life I have never known anyone who calls him that. He goes by Couter. I have asked the reason before and I always get some sort of mumbled response or change of subject - I kinda think he has no idea. My father didn't graduate from high school - I am told he punched the principal in the face right before graduating and got expelled and never went back. I am not sure that is true. I am also told he ran away from home when he was 15 or so because his father was an abusive alcoholic. My dad only half followed in his father's footsteps on that one - he was an alcoholic, not abusive - thank goodness. He has been drinking alcohol since about the time he should have graduated from high school, probably even before then. Smoking as well. He likes small towns although when he met my mother he lived in Calgary, the biggest city in Alberta. Maybe the small town thing is a newer like - I don't know. When I was little my dad worked for the Alberta Wheat Pool - that's where farmers would take their grain to have it weighed and then they would sell it to the wheat pool and then they would load it on trains and take it to factories that make it into flour and whatnot. At least, that is how I always understood it. While working for the Wheat Pool dad was transferred a lot. We lived in 5 different towns in as many years. Then my dad was transferred to Carmangay and only a short while later was laid off (I am not sure how short of a while - I was pretty young). I think my dad got really depressed around this time and started drinking even more heavily than he had before. All through the rest of my growing up years he was only employed on and off here and there and in the off times he drank. I won't lie, he drank during the on times, but he drank a lot more during the off times. I left for college and he was working for the town and it looked like he was doing okay - he got his GED and was taking courses on how to treat water and do other such things. They fired him because of some reason or another - he says it was because they didn't like the image he was putting off since he was in the bar every night, but I think it might partly have been that he didn't pass his water test a couple times in a row. Anyway, then he started drinking more again - at this point I was in Oregon already.
The thing about beer is that when you drink as much of it as my father did your stomach becomes really full and you don't eat much in the way of food (or you eat a lot and get a beer belly - but not in this case). My dad has never been a big eater, but he pretty much stopped eating and just drank a lot of calories. Then he started getting sick. I don't really remember the order of things - but he was in the hospital a couple times for weakness and edema that would come and go in his feet and hands. Then one day he went to have some blood work done and came home, the hospital said they would call with the results (my parents live 30 mins from the closest hosp). One of the things my dad loves the most is going for a drive out on the back-roads somewhere. He was smart enough to know that when he was as pissed as he was he shouldn't drive (he wasn't always that smart - but this time he was) so he grabbed my older brother and they went for a drive. JR says he was driving and dad was saying something and he was slurring really badly - moreso than just his usual drunken slurs - so JR looked over at him and saw that his face was completely slack on one side like a stroke. JR freaked out and headed home. In the meantime the hospital called my parents' house and told my mom that dad needed to come back to the hospital as soon as possible because he was not okay. They took him to the hospital in Vulcan, and then on to Calgary. They did tons of MRI's and cts but couldn't see where the stoke was localized - so that was good, no permanent damage from that - but there was still the fact that his kidneys were almost completely failed (but his liver was totally fine - go figure) and he was extremely malnourished. I really thought he was going to die around this time - but he slowly got better. He checked himself out of the hospital early since he hated being woken up at absurd hours of the night so that he could have tests run. At one point he went to the doctor and asked how long he had to live. The doctor told him that it could be a long time if he treated himself right. He told my mom that if she had said anything less than 6 months he would have started drinking again. I am so glad he didn't. Mom says that he has only had maybe one beer since that day when he had the stroke. He still smokes a lot, but he doesn't drink at all. I haven't seen him a whole lot since that since I live so far away but I have talked to him on the phone and seen pics and every time I am amazed. On one hand he is still so the same - he can be so crusty and easily irritated about stupid things and he tells me stories I don't care about over and over again. But on the other hand he is so different - and I am not sure I can explain the difference. The time he had the stroke was also not too long after my nephew was born and it is so amazing to see him play with his grandson. I can't wait to have my own kids so that they can get to know him the way he is now. Not that he was ever terrible to us - he wasn't. It's just ... indescribable.
My Mom - Her name is Weltha and she is more unique than her name (I think she was actually named after someone so there is at least one other Weltha out there). She was raised LDS but after graduating from high school and deciding nursing school wasn't right for her she moved to Calgary with her sister and became inactive. I think she even lived with some guy at some point but I don't know much about it. She met and married my dad and followed him around as he was transferred all over southern Alberta. Then when he got laid off she got a myriad of jobs to help support the family - working for a grocery store, doing home care, working at the post office, and eventually working as a nurses aide in a long-term care facility. When I was about to enter high school I think she realized that my dad couldn't be depended on to hold a job for very long (not that that was entirely his fault - small towns mean stuff closes) so she almost on a whim decided to apply to go back to school to be - of all things - a nurse. She got in and for two and half years she went to school every week day and worked every weekend day to support us. She graduated when I was 17 - just before I graduated from High School. Because of this she will always be an inspiration to me. She showed me that hard work pays off and that you can get what you want if you work for it.
Also, my mom is my best friend. I tell her things I would never tell anyone else and I know that she loves me and still will no matter when I say. I remember in high school when people would talk about going to keg parties my friends would all get together and we would talk about what they told their parents they were doing that evening I always got strange looks because I would just say "I told my mom I was going to this keg party". The other kids didn't understand how I could tell my mom that and still be allowed to go - but she trusted me. She knew I had a brain and I could make good decisions on my own and that I WOULD make good decisions on my own. She is still inactive in the church, but not because of a lack of a testimony. She tells me all the time that she believes in the Church but because she smokes as well I think she is embarrassed to go to church. I happen to look quite a lot like my mother and apparently I have a lot of the same qualities as well - people tell me all the time. When she is around I groan and pretend I am annoyed, but really, I am glad. If there is anyone in my life I would want to be like it is her.
The Topics List:
Day 01 - Introduce yourself
Day 02 - Your first love, in great detail
Day 03 - Your parents, in great detail
Day 04 - What you ate today, in great detail
Day 05 - Your definition of love, in great detail
Day 06 - Your day, in great detail
Day 07 - Your best friend, in great detail
Day 08 - A moment, in great detail
Day 09 - Your beliefs, in great detail
Day 10 - What you wore today, in great detail
Day 11 - Your siblings, in great detail
Day 12 - What’s in your bag, in great detail
Day 13 - This week, in great detail
Day 14 - What you wore today, in great detail
Day 15 - Your dreams, in great detail
Day 16 - Your first kiss, in great detail
Day 17 - Your favorite memory, in great detail
Day 18 - Your favorite birthday, in great detail
Day 19 - Something you regret, in great detail
Day 20 - This month, in great detail
Day 21 - Another moment, in great detail
Day 22 - Something that upsets you, in great detail
Day 23 - Something that makes you feel better, in great detail
Day 24 - Something that makes you cry, in great detail
Day 25 - A first, in great detail
Day 26 - Your fears, in great detail
Day 27 - Your favorite place, in great detail
Day 28 - Something that you miss, in great detail
Day 29 - Your aspirations, in great detail
Day 30 - One last moment, in great detail