Pictures From Graduation - 1992

Nine years ago today my father died.

I think about him often, but days like today, Father's Day, his birthday, I spend a bit more time reflecting.

I was recently looking through some old photos I had of my buddy Steve and his father (who died not all that long ago), so I could scan them and email them to him.  I came across these two, taken in the same time period.

These pictures were taken in 1992, the summer I graduated from Carleton.  My parents and Baba had come down for the ceremony. It was funny, I didn't even want to attend. I got my degree and just wanted the papers and to move on. It was my parents that were insistent on celebrating the event. They were obviously proud and had invested a great deal in my education. So I'm glad they pushed it. 

Even when I was an "adult" they were right. It was at about that stage in my life when I was beginning to finally see just how much my parents knew and evolved from the "know it all teenager" who never listened to what they had to say and into a man who respected his parents and began to properly take heed of their advice and suggestions.

There's a wonderful old thought that constantly comes to mind when I think about this.  It's along the lines of:  "I can't believe how much my parents learned about the world while I was away at college."

I'm a lucky man. Great parents, good memories.

Dad and I at Carleton University - after Graduation

Dad, Mom and I having a beer in their Ottawa hotel room (air conditioned, as opposed to my place)

Memory Lane:

2011 - HNT - No Regrets
- Pictures of my Dad and me (Wedding day, playing Mattel Intellivision) further musings and a link to the previous posts - kind of like this . . .

2010 - A Man, His Son & Their Laughter
- Includes a poem I wrote for my father back in 1996)

2009 - Mourning Son
- I talk about my still unpublished novel Morning Son, much of which was inspired by stories from my father.

2008 - And I Miss You Just The Same
- Mostly pictures of my Dad

2007 - Dad, Four Years Ago Today
- Memories of the last hunting trip with my Dad and my cousin on Manitoulin Island

2006 - Still Miss You, Dad
- Basic memories, a lot of which I have repeated in this blog over the years; and the father/son poem

2005 - Miss You, Dad
- Simple thoughts of being a new father myself and thinking of Alexander and my Dad interacting