skip to main |
skip to sidebar
Roger by Himself
Dad was an only child. We kids (a family of 6 children) had trouble imagining what that was like. He was eager to have several children after spending so many lonely hours in the back seat as his parents took him on road trips to various fishing spots. He spent a lot of time figuring out and making his own things - items his folks had no money to buy for him. In the spirit of depression era frugality, he would devise them out of the materials at hand. Here he is on his handmade skiis. It was the thirties and he was obsessed with photography and had no funds to purchase equipment, so he made an enlarger from a cocktail shaker. Imaginative use of an item he would come to enjoy tremendously in later life when he mixed his own martinis. I think his only-childness was an asset; fostering self sufficiency an
d allowing him time to read and ponder. He slept in a “room” which was more of an alcove converted from the front porch of the downstairs duplex in which his parents and he lived. It wasn’t until he had left home, that they bought a house with a spare bedroom. He was stung by that and I think, held it against them for rest of his days. He still mentioned it late in life in a voice tinged with irritation. I think an only child often becomes an appendix to an adult couple’s life. Sure many are spoiled and doted upon to excess, their parent’s attentiveness warping them into selfish and demanding creations. But just as often they are just wedged into their parents’ world like an inherited piece of heirloom furniture that cannot be discarded, but must occupy a prominent space in the living room among pieces that it doesn’t match. His parents didn’t build their life around him but at the same time were not really cruel and uncaring. They just sort of made do with him. I kind of think he was unplanned and they didn’t decide after his arrival “well guess we might as well have some more kids cuz here we are parents now and yadda yadda yadda”. Maybe they just waited until he would grow up and move away and they could get back to their life......whew.
Dad was an only child. We kids (a family of 6 children) had trouble imagining what that was like. He was eager to have several children after spending so many lonely hours in the back seat as his parents took him on road trips to various fishing spots. He spent a lot of time figuring out and making his own things - items his folks had no money to buy for him. In the spirit of depression era frugality, he would devise them out of the materials at hand. Here he is on his handmade skiis. It was the thirties and he was obsessed with photography and had no funds to purchase equipment, so he made an enlarger from a cocktail shaker. Imaginative use of an item he would come to enjoy tremendously in later life when he mixed his own martinis. I think his only-childness was an asset; fostering self sufficiency an
d allowing him time to read and ponder. He slept in a “room” which was more of an alcove converted from the front porch of the downstairs duplex in which his parents and he lived. It wasn’t until he had left home, that they bought a house with a spare bedroom. He was stung by that and I think, held it against them for rest of his days. He still mentioned it late in life in a voice tinged with irritation. I think an only child often becomes an appendix to an adult couple’s life. Sure many are spoiled and doted upon to excess, their parent’s attentiveness warping them into selfish and demanding creations. But just as often they are just wedged into their parents’ world like an inherited piece of heirloom furniture that cannot be discarded, but must occupy a prominent space in the living room among pieces that it doesn’t match. His parents didn’t build their life around him but at the same time were not really cruel and uncaring. They just sort of made do with him. I kind of think he was unplanned and they didn’t decide after his arrival “well guess we might as well have some more kids cuz here we are parents now and yadda yadda yadda”. Maybe they just waited until he would grow up and move away and they could get back to their life......whew. 
No comments:
Post a Comment