A very few of you have met my dad, Lyle. He has been an incredible influence/mentor in my life and I wanted to take a moment and give him the acknowledgment he deserves. My brothers, sister and I talk together about what a “white bread”, “middle America” upbringing we share. We never saw our parents fight, drunk or strike each other (ok, I do remember seeing my Dad drunk one time and peeing in the clothes hamper in the bathroom). Our parents always put our needs before theirs and always seemed to be incredibly concerned about the mental and physical health of our family. When I was graduating high school I wasn’t sure which direction I should pursue…Pre-med and become an eye surgeon (I loved science) or try and do something connected to jewelry. There were no other family members involved in the jewelry business so there really was a lack of industry knowledge. My dad suggested and helped me research technical and trade schools to see what was available. The fact that he didn’t push me to follow a traditional educational path was a huge relief. Surprisingly, he was an accomplished metallurgical engineer and wasn’t sure how he got there. For him to lay back and not pressure me to go to a four-year college was out of character. My mom always supported my artistic talent and that may be where it derives from…
Luckily, we found a technical school that taught jewelry making, diamond setting, watch repair and jewelry design. My Dad said that I should give it a try and after a year, if a wasn’t happy, go to college somewhere. Well here I am and I feel that I made the right choice. My Dad is currently living in a care facility outside of Chicago for patients with Demensia and Alzhiemers. He recognizes me and the rest of our family and friends but his memory is fraying. Now, the most important thing he asks us is not, “what’s going on?” but “Are we happy?” and how much he loves us. Funny, those were always the most important things to him since we were kids….

Tags: enthusiasms, family, sentimental

This entry was posted on Monday, July 12th, 2010 at 6:59 pm and is filed under family life, Mark's opinion. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.