My father was an elementary school teacher while I was growing up. I always looked up to him for help with schoolwork, especially math. I always thought my dad was the smartest person in the world because he always knew the answers to everything. Even to this day, I think my dad knows a lot, he knows a lot about history and can tell you the answer to just about anything; he is like a walking encyclopedia at times, he has survived and lived through a lot as well. He has served our country through World War II and has seen our country struggle and survive through the depression era, the Korean and Vietnam Wars, as well as the current war in Iraq. My father is a great person and a hard worker for these reasons and for many others, my father is the patriarch for family and religion.
While growing up, I remember the days when my dad used to teach each of us, my two older sisters, younger brother, and younger sister how to brush our teeth, say our prayers before bed and most of all taught us how important it is to earn an education. Throughout school I was a shy child growing up and hated school with a passion, but my father was always there to encourage me, by reminding me to “take one day at a time,” because time goes by so quickly and before I knew it I would be looking back wishing I had enjoyed life more fully. He emphasized to all of us the importance of education, encouraging all of us to obtain higher degrees following high school. My younger sister is yet to complete her degree, but for her it has been a struggle due to her physical handicap and the fact that she married young. It is our hope that she will join the rest of her siblings and earn her college degree in the near future.
My father has always tried his best to be a great role model for all of us. He has been a good husband, though I can not say he has been perfect, but he has tried and struggled with hard times on a teacher’s salary raising a family of five. He has taught all of us the value of money and how important it is to prepare for a rainy day. My father has made us all pennywise, but at the same time we also know how to enjoy life and live within our means.
Growing up he taught us to stay away from sweets by limiting the sugar content in our foods; we were only allowed to drink unsweetened Kool-Aid and were only allowed to indulge in candy once a year: at Halloween time. For this reason, we learned to make our treats last throughout the year until the next Halloween. I am grateful for this restrictive upbringing because today none of us are overweight and have had very minor dental problems.
While growing up, we also learned to enjoy powdered milk because we not only lived on a limited income, but because my dad didn’t want us to have weight problems growing up. I am thankful for this as well, because I am now an overall healthy adult with no weight issues. In addition to being limited from sugars and brought up on powdered milk, we were not allowed to indulge in fast foods, sugared cereals, or desserts unless it was a special occasion such as a birthday or holiday, for all of these reasons we are all healthy and none of us have serious weight problems like many of today’s children. I have learned to appreciate these treats only on special occasions as an adult and am thankful to my father for bringing us up healthy.
Another lesson I learned from my father was the value of spending time with family and taking at least one yearly family vacation. Despite our limited income, my dad always made sure we went on a fun summer vacation to Disneyland, the San Diego Zoo, Knottsberry Farm, the beach, or across the country to Florida to see the alligators, and New Jersey, Pennsylvania, or New York to visit family who lived on the east coast.
