California for Stefani

So… where do I start?  I met these people 40 years ago, but I don’t remember the details since I was only a newborn… yup, Vic & Chris are my parents.  I am the first born and their guinea pig HA HA HA!!   I think I have always enjoyed my parents company.  Yes, there are moments in one’s life that parents can cramp ones style, but I don’t think it was too often.   What are some of my memories of them…. my dad playing piano to us before going to bed, my mom praying with us, reading to us or even singing to us, our various camping trips (i didn’t say they were all good memories LOL), trekking up the mountain to check out our water supply, the many times my parents put up with our games, skits, etc.

My dad is the math person PLUS he also is a music person.  I got my math skills from my dad, but I didn’t get the music skills.  I LOVE music though, but don’t have the same talent as he does with music.  I do play piano though (SHHHH… don’t tell anyone) and used to enjoy it a lot.  I prefer to let someone else do the playing though… much easier for me.   My dad has a love for teenagers and as a teacher, he is great with them.  It took a bit for him to get used to the idea of me being a teenager though.  Everyone told him that once I became a teenager everything would go downhill, so I think he was expecting me to be a lot worse than what I was… yup… I did do some not so great things as a teenager… I listened to secular music (Bryan Adams, ect) AND I had some posters of movie stars on my wall.   I think he eventually figured out I wasn’t that bad as a teenager and he softened up a bit.  If I remember correctly, he had a hard time saying “I love you” to me for the first year or so when I turned 13… all those stupid people that scared my dad… hope Karma bit you in the ass.  Once he got over that “teenage” hurdle, things went pretty good… other than the normal teenage thing.  Turns out me and my dad don’t work well together and if you want proof… ask us to pile a woodpile together.   Now that can bring it oodles of memories and most not that great, but at least we can both laugh at that now.

In grade 10 my class did a student exchange with a group of students on the east coast… there is no way I would have done this without my dad.  He was one of the teachers that went along, and it made it much easier on me.  I won’t go into detail about that whole adventure as that would take many posts and probably some therapy to get over.  But all I will say is that I survived it because my dad was there.  Otherwise I think I would have asked to be sent home earlier.  When I turned 16, he bought a motorbike and we learned to ride it together.  What cool parents to let their daughter have a motorbike and if I remember correctly, when we moved, he bought the street bike and we learned to ride that too.  I got that bike for my grad present.  Now my dad wasn’t too amused when I became engaged at 17 and when we went to Hawaii as a family (and left poor Doug behind), he proceeded to take me out for lunch and explain that maybe I should play the field a bit… totally understandable for a dad to worry about their 17 year old getting engaged to a 23 year old who was my first boyfriend.   Let’s just say that Doug’s background didn’t ease my dad’s worries… so again, totally understandable for the apprehension.

My mom is the artist in the family.  She comes from a long line of artists.  I have a number of paintings of my Oma’s in our house.  My mom does some amazing sculpting with clay and can paint too.  My sister Andrea got that talent too, along with her son Owen.  It’s cool to see how those talents can run in the family from one generation to another.  I did NOT get that talent at all.  I can paint a wall if I have to, but that is the extent of my artistic talent.   My mom was a teacher before I came along, but decided to be a stay at home mom once I showed my cute face.   I think it was rough on my parents financially with only having 1 income, but they managed and we sure appreciate having a parent home with us.  Granted because my dad was a teacher, we had both our parents home after school.   My mom is quiet (probably where I get that from) and is very relaxed.  She wasn’t the type of mom who made our lunches for school, or even made our breakfasts… granted again, my dad was a teacher, so he was the one that helped us in that area, but for the most part, we made our own breakfasts and lunches.   My mom does not like to cook, but thankfully my dad does, so we didn’t starve.  I think each family needs to figure out their strengths and work with that.   My mom was good at cleaning up after my dad though (in the kitchen), which was needed LOL.   My mom and dad both tucked us in night, but it was my mom who would read us the bedtime stories (Cross and the Switchblade).  She would pray with us and just listen to us when we needed someone to talk to in the darkness of the night.   She read us all sorts of books to us. 

My mom was the calm one when it came to me becoming a teenager.   Ok… mostly calm… my first time driving with my mom didn’t go so well and it was soon after that when they decided I would get driving lessons instead of them teaching me.  Smart move on their part.   I don’t recall many issues with my mom when I was a teenager.  I am sure she can come up with a few, but I think my mom did pretty good as a mom of a teenager.   AS the picture shows, my mom was always good at the strong supportive part of being a parent.  It was great that she was a stay at home mom.

My parents were great parents (for the most part… just ask me about Rye bread)… they took us with them most places even though they could have gotten a babysitter instead.   They allowed us the freedom to be who we wanted to be, even if it meant a small kid would put their feet up in the pews at church in the choir.  They didn’t conform to what society said they should be and with that, raised 3 girls as individuals.  They taught us sex education at an early age so that we understood what our bodies where about and about some of the dangers of predators.   They taught me about faith in God and how easy it actually is.  They didn’t sugar coat adult life and because of that, I was fairly prepared for what the world would throw at me as I grew into an adult.  My parents always told me I was beautiful and because of that, I have a fairly decent self esteem.  They practised what they preached… they were not the type of parents who said one thing and did a totally different thing.  We learned from example and that is a great legacy for a parent to give their kids. 

We have done some stupid things as adults and my parents have bailed us out.  We owe them big time for that.  I think for the most part, our relationship is as friends and not as parents any more.   They support us in all that we do and are a shoulder to cry on when we need it.  They have seen us at our worst (Mom & Dad… think New York LOL) and have seen us at our best.  They have been with us through it all and we are forever grateful for that.  I love having them as best friends.

We are leaving on vacation in 8 sleeps and it is going to be weird to be without them for this vacation.  We have done our big vacations with them for a number of years now, and this will be the first one in a long time that we haven’t done with them.  We will really miss them.  Next year we go to the Panama together, so that will make up for it.    I think my most favourite memory I have vacationing with them is going through Central Park with the horse and carriage.  We were bundled up in blankets in the carriage.  I loved sharing my first time in New York with my parents.   I also enjoyed taking my parents to Disneyland for their first time.   Instead of the parents taking the kids to Disneyland, we were taking them to Disneyland.  That was fun.   So many memories, so much fun… here is to many more memories together.  Thanks Mom & Dad (Chris & Vic) for being great friends, wonderful parents and such supportive people to Doug and I.  We are blessed and thank God every day for you guys.