Daily writing prompt

Describe a man who has positively impacted your life.

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I could mention family members, teachers, friends, co-workers, anyone. There have been many people who have positively impacted my life. No, there is only one answer. My father.

He taught me everything I know. How to work hard, how to put family first, how to sacrifice for the benefit of your kids. Hell, he basically taught me how to walk and talk and eat with utensils, and literally everything. There cannot be a more positive influence. As good as he’s been to me, I feel like I have been a terrible son to him. I feel like a failure in that regard. I need to do better.

He was married to my mother for over 55 years before she passed away. This has been such a hard year for him and I haven’t done nearly enough to help him through it. I am literally the worst son to the best father.

Daily writing prompt

Is your life today what you pictured a year ago?

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As my father likes to say, S.S.D.D. Same shit, different day. 

Okay, that’s both overly negative and overly dramatic, but the idea works. I am right where I thought I would be a year ago, because I am more or less in the same place I was a year ago. Same job, same staff, same schedule, same musical situation, same photography situation. More important than any of that, same immediate family situation. I wish the kids were home more often, but other than that we’re in the same boat as last year. My mother is gone, so the extended family isn’t quite what I was hoping for. I guess I was hoping that this year would produce a miracle cure for dementia, but we had pretty much the exact opposite result. Xmas is going to be painful

So what does this mean, really? I am happy, I am healthy, I love my wife and my step kids and I am happy with my family life. I still enjoy my job, especially when I work from home. Socially speaking, I have not moved on from the pandemic yet, but that wasn’t really part of the plan for this year. Maybe that’s something we can put on the agenda for 2024. 2023 has been a good year. Other than losing my mother and my aunt and uncle, I wouldn’t have changed a thing. 

Here’s to more of the same in 2024. Minus the absent family members, of course. I can’t handle any more of that.