I wanted to share some of the thoughts Dad shared with me after Sunday dinner. We started talking about his Dad, Grandpa Asplund. He died before I was born (Becky was the last grandchild in our family, although I don't think she has any memories of him). He died at age 58.
I have always been very curious about his personality. So I asked. "What was he like?" Dad was reflective in his answer. "My dad was surprising, He could ride a horse and herd cattle and while on the back of a horse he could recite "Lady on the Lake". I always had the impression he was a very formal man. Dad said this was not the case, although he was strict (more so than Grandmother) but he reinforced his rules by showing deep dissappointment when his children misbehaved. Dad has a very vivid memory of his father crying when he felt that his children had not lived up to the standards he had hoped. "This was very effective," dad said, "because we loved him and that caught our attention".
"I know Grandma loved to read, Did your dad read?". I asked. "Both my parents loved to read, but they read differently. My mother read like a school teacher, she liked to extract the social conversation that would come from a good read. My father read like a professor of literature. He loved the deeper meanings of novels and history and liked profound truths. He was not much interested in social conversations that would come about from literature."
I had always thought my grandparents were very social people. Dad clarified this. "My mother was very social and always wanted to be at the heart of a social circle (Happy hunters, book clubs or Bridge clubs). While Grandpa Asplund was very polite and participated in all the activities, he was also notorious for finding a quite corner and reading a book (WHO ELSE DO we know that is like that--now I know where Dad gets it from!!)
Some fun tidbits!!!
6 years ago
