I had a pretty good childhood. I wasn’t well off but not poor either, didn’t know starvation but understood the value of a good days labour. My parents were good to me, both are very genuine and caring people but their shortcomings are prevalent with in me.

My mother, rest her soul, was a very selfless lady. She was a bit of a country hippy growing up and very free spirited. She was the oldest of her siblings and learned very young what being a care giver was all about, stern yet compassionate. We didn’t know till after she had passed that the doctors diagnosed her with schizophrenia. If I had known at a younger age I may have been better off guiding myself, not looking so directly with that light of perfection, understanding and accepting the fact that sometimes she was just being “crazy” and I use that term loosely. In short because my mother kept that bit of information to herself, when she needed me the most I was not understanding!

My father, is a good man. Honest to a fault and true to his word, hard to get his word but if he gives it you can count it as gold. Very stern, he had a military father, but also very forgiving and easy going. He’s a hard man to describe and was an excellent father, expressing how proud of me he was quite often. Though supportive he’s also ignorant to his own BS, funny thing those are his initials 😅, quite often he would commit himself even when I know he knows that he’s in the wrong. All or nothing, black or white, right or wrong, no grey areas made it hard for me to be happy with myself even when he stated he was proud of me.

My parents did the best they could with the tools they were taught, building a better foundation for myself to start into life with a outlook of optimism. The most important thing for a parent is to recognize their shortcoming so that they may not be passed on to their children.