Saturday, June 15, 2013

My Dad. Study Partner. Debate Partner

My study partner.

For so many years – until college – then Simms took over. I would have you test me on everything. I know you were very happy when I was done with the paces and in a “real” school system again. Those things frustrated you – although I did VERY well in math. Hmmm, wonder who I got that skill from? Hee hee.

You would quiz me so I could be ready for my tests. The biggest weeks would be for my midterms and finals throughout high school. You never said “no”. Even as you struggled pronouncing all of the Spanish vocabulary – we just giggled through it all. And I graduated with honors.

Thank you for never saying no and always making me/family a priority. Another life lesson I learned simply from your example. Thank you Daddy.

My debate partner.

This is something that I think is unique to us. In spite of everything, we haven’t always seen eye to eye on a variety of issues. And so we would “discuss” our differing points of view – which sometimes got VERY HEATED.

What makes us different is that after those heated discussions, we were fine. Within five minutes, we could be laughing about something else.

Honestly, I never knew we were unique in this until Simms pointed it out to me. Hee hee. I know these discussions weren’t always pleasant, but through it you taught me how to think things through. We also challenged and stretched one another. I believe I developed a lot of my reasoning and processing skills as a result.

Today, I am a very logical thinker and I don’t just take what someone says as truth. I dissect it, examine it, and critique it. These are skills I attempted to teach my students. Our world needs more people to do this. Daddy, thank you for helping me to develop these skills.

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