Father's Day Memories
He died before my university graduation – an event he would so loved to have attended. After all, he was the driving force behind my ambition to become a journalist. When I was seven or eight and expressed an interest in this craft he fostered it, asking me about current affairs and explaining what was happening outside my comfortable world. He had been so excited for me when I embarked on my first stint of work experience at the Terrigal Times newspaper as a 15-year-old starry-eyed girl, and then again when I spent a week behind the scenes of the magazine world at Cleo the following year. So I was bursting to tell him when I realised our dream and secured a journalism cadetship when I was 22, but I had to be satisfied with knowing he would have been over the moon. Before he died from cancer, Pa and my grandmother were planning a huge trip around Australia. They had both worked so hard for so long and this had been a long-term plan when they retired. I vowed to do what I could when I could, instead of putting it off for a better time so I wouldn’t miss out, like he did. As I boarded the plane to the UK for a four-year working holiday in 2001 these thoughts rang in my mind. I relished the opportunity to work and travel with the freedom of having no ties. I wanted to return from my overseas stint knowing I’d done everything I wanted to. Something I’d always planned was to see where Pa’s family had come from. Their home, before Australia, was the tiny Greek island Kythira. It was a beautiful island, mostly untouched by tourists, and I visited Kythira twice in the time I was overseas, making sure I went to the village his family had once called home. During my first visit to the island I wandered through the church that would have serviced the village. In my very dodgy Greek I spoke to the priest and explained my presence there. He remembered Pa’s family. I still smile at the memory of the elation I felt at that moment – I’d made a tangible connection to Pa’s heritage. Pa was also on my mind when I got married and when I had both my children. I’m certain he and my husband would have been great friends and he would have spoilt my sons, just as he spoilt me. Noah, especially, would have got a kick out of driving in Pa’s truck, sitting up high, almost like you were driving on top of the world! So Happy (Grand) Father’s Day Pa. Happy Father’s Day to Harvey, Dad, Jim and my other Pa. And Happy Father’s Day to all the fathers, grandfathers, great-grandfathers and great-great-grandfathers out there – I hope you have a wonderful day with your families. What are your special Father’s Day memories? I’d love you to share them with me on our discussion forum. ___________________________________ Johanna Baker-Dowdell is mum to two boys – Noah and Ethan – and combines looking after them with her work as a blogger, journalist, writer and public relations consultant. She owns and manages Strawberry Communications which started small in the third bedroom, but has grown into its own office space (in the converted garage). Add Comment |
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With Father’s Day only weeks away I am planning what I will do for and give to the fathers in my life – my husband and father to my two sons, my father and my step-father. It also makes me think about my two grandfathers, both of whom died some time ago. I love both grandfathers, but it was my mother’s father, “Pa”, who I was particularly close to. I miss him dreadfully every Father’s Day, birthday, Christmas and at momentous occasions in my life.
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