My father has been dead 3 years today...and slowly but surely I am beginning to understand more about the man I've spent so much time being pissed at.
Fred Henry "Hank" Williamson was a brilliant man...not much he couldn't do. I'm a person of average intelligence who maxes it out. It really pissed me off that he practically refused to do anything with all he had...He should have been the head of a Fortune 500 Company bare minimum...or so I always thought. Instead he puttered about with Carpentry Projects & ran errands for my Mom & Grandmother. He spent a lot of time just sitting at his kitchen table playing his guitar, reading, whittling, smoking his pipe and visiting with his various friends. That's the way I like to remember my Dad...the life of the party, always doing something for his friends& family. Constantly finding some new hobby to take on, some new infatuation...
Fred Henry "Hank" Williamson was a brilliant man...not much he couldn't do. I'm a person of average intelligence who maxes it out. It really pissed me off that he practically refused to do anything with all he had...He should have been the head of a Fortune 500 Company bare minimum...or so I always thought. Instead he puttered about with Carpentry Projects & ran errands for my Mom & Grandmother. He spent a lot of time just sitting at his kitchen table playing his guitar, reading, whittling, smoking his pipe and visiting with his various friends. That's the way I like to remember my Dad...the life of the party, always doing something for his friends& family. Constantly finding some new hobby to take on, some new infatuation...
Truth is, he was ALWAYS at cross-purposes with someone...stayed a Hippy up until his death in that very Cheech & Chong sorta way...manipulated things to suit his own purposes and needs of the moment...and used alienation in a Brutal manner. This is where the Anger came into the picture...
Although I did not realize it till I was a grown woman with kids of my own, my Dad was suffering from Mental Illness. He spent a lot of time Severely Depressed and later in life suffered from Schizophrenia. He was struggling to stay in the moment every day. Much in the way that the Hero/Husband of "The Time Traveler's Wife" struggles to stay in the present, my Dad was struggling...and some days he succeeded and some days he failed and was Far out in the Universe...I could compare & contrast my Dad with that ill-fated Hero all day, but I will say this: My Dad ALWAYS managed to keep his clothes on...and rarely popped up beaten & bloody...so it could have been worse...
No comments:
Post a Comment