My dad is a retired engineer. As a kid, he dismantled and reassembled radios to figure out how they worked. He has made his own nitroglycerin and Tesla coil just for the fun of it. While most kids were hyped up on cotton candy at the State Fair, I was standing beside the rides learning how the gears and counterbalances made them work (and then I got to have cotton candy). When I was in sixth grade, I asked him to help me with my science homework (about leaves), and instead, he taught me about how he used to use trigonometry to calculate the height of the silos on his dad's farm. Good to know, yes, but not terribly helpful with my leaf-related homework. When my sister Jill, also an engineer, was panicked about her statics exam in college, Daddy was able to explain the whole semester to her in one afternoon, and I think she said she aced her exam. Every moment is a teaching moment with him, and his daughters are the women they are because of this.
We're also able to change our own tires (though I never have), shoot guns, start campfires, pitch tents, and grill delicious meat because his teaching moments go beyond textbooks.
Me and my dad, who unfortunately never taught me how to keep my eyes open in a picture!
My mom has always put her girls' educations first. She exposed us (and our friends!) to foods and cultures not common in our small town. We watched classic movies like Gone With the Wind and My Fair Lady, but she would also let us make our own selections at the video store (and live with the consequences of our choices... remember Munchie? *shudder*). She encouraged our hobbies (Jill's rock-tumbling, Kara's hook art, my fashion designing), fostered our imaginations, and was a second mom to the kids in the neighborhood. My mom is an avid reader, so books were always abundant in our house, which helped us become good readers, too.
My mom is my biggest supporter. In school, she edited my essays, asking me how I would correct them rather than just doing it for me. She helped me research and organize my projects, from a state booklet about Hawaii to a yarn-and-cardboard periodic table that I still have today. She spent countless hours quizzing me on trivia questions to prepare me for Quiz Bowl and rehearsing lines with me for plays. She was always present at school, whether she was volunteering or being a substitute teacher, throwing in-school birthday parties or sewing costumes for various events. Even now, she wants to know about what I was learning in grad school, what types of papers and projects I was working on, and reminisces about her own teaching days.
In addition to cultural and school-related teaching, she taught me how to draw (especially people), cook (and ongoing process), sew (a little...), entertain, and so much more.
Me and Mom after getting new haircuts
Yeah, my folks are pretty awesome. They've done so much for me as a child that I'm only starting to realize now watching them with their granddaughter Addison. As they show this 7-month old baby big trucks, birds out the window, and sing to her the ABCs, I see a glimpse of what they have done for me.
Mama and Daddy and their girls, Kara, me, Jill
Teaching a whole new generation
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