If my dad were here and counting, he would be 123 years old today. My, my.
Born in 1891, he lived in the 19th and 20th Centuries. I don't know what he remembered of the late 1800s. He never talked to me about it.
He lived through the Great Depression, as did my mother, and I believe the Brimley family he grew up in never had a lot of anything. I remember hearing that one of the Brimley brothers got the family into debt--business failure?--and my dad's dad, rather than declare bankruptcy, paid it off. It took a long time to clear the debt.
This story is sketchy in my memory, but I think it's something like what I just wrote, and I didn't make it up.
Anyway, my dad was frugal, a bargain hunter (food and houses, and there are many stories about both or either house or food bargains) and a make do kind of man. I don't think he and my mom clashed much about that kind of thing, but, then, I wouldn't really know, would I.
I know they agreed on this point: Stay out of debt.
So my mother was no spendthrift, but, while she was careful, she liked her kids to have something nice, including music lessons, dance lessons, even oil painting lessons. Not to mention something nice to wear and a home they could bring their friends to--a presentable place to live. Daddy provided for that, and so did she. She taught piano for most of her life, single and married, and taught school, too.
One thing I took for granted, something not everyone can, my mom and dad loved each other, and they loved their family. We were safe with them.
Staying out of debt is one of the important lessons I learned from my dad.
He also taught me to love avocados, and my favorite way to eat them is the way I saw my dad eat them--a piece of whole wheat bread (I make my own, Daddy), avocado mashed on the bread, with plenty of pepper on top. I do use pepper but not in the amounts my dad did. And I might toast the bread.
Happy Birthday, my dear Daddy.
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