Magic shouldn't be a substitute for good parenting!
I made this one for Demisword last weekend and it was a lot of fun to make. The picture was very colorful and dynamic, with a relatively pleasing model dressed in a fun outfit. Sometimes I like to let loose with some of my extended vocabulary when I have space to do so, and it seemed to fit in with the direction I wanted to move the plot towards, though I didn't go over the top. I enjoy placing the Haven into the plot line, however it is needed, and giving friends a cameo appearance is a blast. And I received a wonderful response from Demisword that will always pump up my tires .. "I did enjoy it! Thank you very much Dee. I have been a fan of your caps for a while so it is an honor to receive one from you." I am not above giving people brownie points, as it can definitely keep you off the shit list!
Last of all, I think I came up with a really good title for the caption, which doesn't always happen!
I started writing up a paragraph about parenting, but truthfully, there is no one way to do it, and often we wish our own parents had treated us differently, so perhaps there is actually no right way at all. Life is a challenge, and our developmental years fuck us up no matter how well-adjusted we think we are ... those times in the middle of the night when you can't sleep, your worst fears and insecurities come rushing out to make you a miserable ball of confusion. Your parents tried there best, and you'll do the same thing for yours. Perhaps teaching them that everyone has hang ups and helping them come up with suitable coping mechanisms for the existential dread we all confront is the best way to let them know you care.
As I get close to my deceased mother's birthday, and within the next few weeks, the 20th anniversary of her death, I wonder if (1) my life would've turned out different if she'd be around longer to keep me on an even keel, and (2) if she was watching me now, what she think would of how my life turned out. The thing is though, I cannot separate those two thoughts. My current life is a product of how I dealt with her very untimely departure (I am about to reach the age she was when she died) and the choices I made once she passed on. I am relatively comfortable with who I am, regardless of how I got here, and I know that I wouldn't be in this spot if she were alive. Perhaps I'd be a sufferable asshole that was handed everything without having to have earned it . who knows? I've definitely had those moments when I was younger! It does make me feel a bit selfish though, because while I wouldn't want to change who I am now, I feel like my daughter got cheated by not having a sane and loving Grandmother. She still has her Great-grandmother, my mom's mother, but she lives far away and only comes around a month every year .. and its still quite a generation gap.
Sorry I went serious on everyone. Just started typing and voooosh, it came out. March can be a rough month so it's bound to give me some mood swings from time to time. We'll be back again with some more cheerful TG goodness!
Wonderful cap and wonderfully insightful sentiments Dee!
ReplyDeleteI've often wondered if you could look at generations of families, would you see a 'tick tock' swing in parenting styles? Would you see the child that was raised in a stern orderly family raise their children in a care-free style, only to have those children raise their own in a more disciplined way? I can't speak to this on any personal level having no children of my own, but I can see it in my brother's children. He and I were raised in a fairly strict manner and while at times he tries to emulate that style, overall he lets his children far more leash than we were ever offered.
I think you really touched on something that I firmly believe in here too... if you like who you are (forget about 'where' you are in job, relationship, money and other external stuff... just if you like who YOU are), then how can you complain about that path that lead you there? I can wish I had more freedom in highschool. I can wish I had more fun in college. I can wish I started my eventual career path earlier in life. I can wish that I found my one true love at an early age and was now married with rugrats moving out of the house. But if any of those things had happened, I'd not likely be the person that I am today. And you know what? I like who I am.
I'll certainly still cry whenever my father's passing anniversary comes by, and I'll still wish that I had done other things in life, but deep down I accept these things as learning moments. I just have to keep learning from them and continue on to a better future version of me!
Thanks for the deep thoughts Dee!
Parenting is all things to all people. I suspect that there IS a right method but, I believe, that this ideal is impossible to reach by most parents given the fact that we live in the world we do and it changes based on the child, the parents and the situation they find themselves in. On that basis, absolutely, everyone tries their best and no more can, or should, be asked.
ReplyDeleteAnd I have to say, I had forgotten Dig Lazarus Dig, my knowledge of it comes from an ex-colleague of mine. A real anarchist with experience in squats, riots, demonstrations and activism working as a teacher. He and I did not get along as well as we ought to have done. The album seemed to be a good one.