Old Man, take a look at my life…Part 1

Imagecurvyroads 17 Comments

1960-07 July - Dad and Me in the garden in Tirrenia

“Old man look at my life,
I’m a lot like you were.” – Neil Young

That song has always reminded me of my Dad, who sadly, died far too young…but he was still my old man. During my hiatus from blogging, I spent a lot of time thinking about my life, and reflecting on my choices, and my passions, especially riding motorcycles. I wondered what made my experience different from those who try it, and find it’s not for them.  All this reflection naturally took me back, to my upbringing and childhood, and ultimately, to my Dad. My mom; well that’s another story, for another time.

Soon, I will start sharing some of our previous motorcycle travel experiences, in words and pictures. And until my hub and I are free to travel when and where we want, I will start with this post to share some insights about how I think my passion evolved. It may or may not stir similar feelings in you about your passions, but I hope it does.

My upbringing was slightly unconventional, at least by the standards of most of my American peers. I spoke Italian and German before I spoke English, and didn’t set foot in the US until I was almost seven. I had been to dozens of countries by the time I was six years old, and vacations in Beirut or Mallorca were commonplace. But, I am getting ahead of myself. A little family background is in order.

My mother is a German immigrant, whose surviving family picked their way to safety through the rubble remaining from the Anglo-American bombings in World War II. In her 20s, she married a GI and moved to the US. They lived on various Army posts, and were married six years when he died of a heart attack in Korea. She was working in an office at Fort Sill in Lawton, Oklahoma when her husband died.

My father was that fairly rare species, a native Floridian. He was born in Fort Lauderdale, and grew up in Miami, as an only child of older parents. His family owned a resort hotel on the beach, until the depression took it all. His father died relatively young, his mother and widowed aunt took off on a world cruise, and Dad made his own way after high school. He loved the sea, and worked for a time as crew on the fabulous yacht Sea Cloud, owned by Palm Beach socialite Marjorie Merriweather Post, which was the largest privately owned sea-going yacht in the world at the time. He learned a trade, becoming a radio operator, which later led to an Army Commission in the Signal Corp.

The early 1950s find my father in Lawton, Oklahoma as well. Boy meets girl at a base insurance office, he sweeps her off her feet and they elope to Vienna and get married. Dad takes a job with a global communications company, working on an Army base, and they spend the next five years living on the Mediterranean in Livorno, Italy, enjoying life as a young married couple.

Side note: My dear husband, reading my draft, keeps repeating “He’s a spy! Communications, yeah, right, Ha, ha!” Apparently, his first wife’s father was actually a spy, and he must now believe that all wives’ fathers must be spies????

Still with me? Part 2 can be found here…

17 thoughts on “Old Man, take a look at my life…Part 1”

    • Oh it gets even smaller. Hub was an army brat too, and he was in Germany while we were. How’s that for a small world???? He was in Nuremberg. No, we did not meet then. 😉

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  4. I also have a hard time understanding
    – Why some people flat out won’t try the things I love
    – Why they don’t love them too.
    Granted, some of the things I love can be pretty unsettling. But still…

    Looking forward to part 2 (The Spy Who Fathered Me?)!

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    • Haha, Guap, you are a scream! Do you think it could be because the things you love include naked bar sliding????

      Heehee, I LOVE the title for part 2! Two questions: 1) can I use it? and 2) do you hire out for humorous blog post title creation? I can pay in seltzer, diet coke and Jameson. 😀

      (For those that aren’t familiar with Guap’s hilarious adventures, start here: http://guapola.wordpress.com/2014/02/04/an-adventure-the-naked-bar-slide/)

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      • Nono, the naked public gallivanting is in my past.
        Mostly.

        But I love defying gravity, whether it’s climbing, bungee jumping, skydiving, or anything like that.

        Self preservation instinct.
        Bah. 😉

        Feel free to use it! I’d love to say I’m for hire, but I have enough trouble titling my own stuff…

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      • Hahahaha, Guap, ‘mostly’.

        Ok, so truth be told, I can understand why some people don’t love the gravity defying things, as I am a wuss when it comes to jumping out of perfectly good airplanes myself. Give me 500 pounds of engine delicately balanced on two wheels anytime…

        And thanks Guap, I will give credit for the fab title, as it is due! You are a hell of a guy!

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  7. How did I get so far behind on your posts??? I’m so sorry! I seriously don’t get to my reader often enough….
    This is fascinating. I love people’s family stories. It’s cool you know so much about his earlier days. I’m sorry you lost him early. Looking forward to reading Part II!

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    • Oh Beth, I am the QUEEN of far behind…reading posts, writing posts, lol. Thank you for reading and commenting!

      I actually gained a lot of insight into my Dad’s younger years when cleaning out my Mom’s house. Even 20+ years after he died, she kept everything. So that was good for these purposes!

      Now if I can just get part 3 going again! 😉

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