Family: A Retrospective, Part 1

(Dad's 1971 911 Porsche)

Hi Friends.


I am starting a series of posts revolving around some pictures I found during my most recent trip back to Ohio.


If there's one thing in photography I love more than taking a good picture, it's appreciating the photos my family has taken in the past. The waaay past.


Did you notice the awesome picture of Mom and Granny in my last post? Well, there's more where that came from.


Each post I'll try and tell a story about that family member, or about the special meaning that photo has for me. I'll also post some of my own photos taken of that person (this is, after all, a blog highlighting the photo's I've taken).




The first family member I am going to focus on is my dad.


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Everyone who has met my dad will agree that he is a very unique person. He's an interesting blend of intellectual firepower, extroversion, introspection and goofiness. There really is no one like him. He's probably the most intelligent person I know, but he gets along well with people of all walks of life. Perhaps this is why he's such an effective teacher and communicator.


When I was growing up, Dad and I fought. A lot. We mostly picked on each other in order to push one another's buttons, and eventually irritate Momma to the point of her yelling at both of us to cut it out.


My appreciation for my dad has grown substantially in the last 10 years, particularly the last 3 years. 


Not many people understand what it feels like to go through graduate school in order to get a Ph.D. There is a sense of under-appreciation that permeates the experience. Little to no pay, long hours, grumpy bosses, the ebb and flow of data and results (for us scientists), and the creeping feeling of being an impostor flood your everyday life. As a graduate student, one must also weather the onslaught completely annoying questions from old friends and distant relatives about when you anticipate graduation, and whether or not you are doing good in your classes (for chemistry and biology Ph.D.s, classes rarely extend beyond the first year, and all subsequent years are spent at the bench, actually doing research). 


Family members and close friends (and even sometimes spouses!) have a hard time grasping the emotional, physical and psychological pain graduate school inflicts on even the strongest students.


But, my dad does. My dad was a graduate student at John's Hopkins in the late 70s and early 80s, studying the history of science and technology. My parents have told me stories of long hours studying, reading, and writing they endured when my dad was trying to get his Ph.D., and my mom was getting her MBA. 

(Dad working on his Ph.D. in Baltimore, MD)

I have found my dad to be an invaluable resource as I try to navigate through my Ph.D. training. Randomly, I will receive emails from my dad saying things like "Don't lose heart!" and "Keep your identity in your Creator!", and they seem to come during times when I am feeling most isolated and awful.

I'm going to quote my dad (without his permission, though I doubt he'll mind) from one of my most treasured email conversations with him. This email came directly after I began having serious doubts of whether or not I could continue graduate school, and I was questioning whether I should take my Master's degree and run:

"Being young isn't easy, but if you keep your faith in God and yourself and work your way through the hard times you will be rewarded in the end.  Times are really difficult now, with the economy and jobs, and it is very hard to be right out of school. It is easy to take the path of lesser resistance, but if you keep going, and make good decisions with God on your side and Christ inside of you, in the end life will settle down and you will have a good harmonious life. So I just want to say keep doing your best despite all the obstacles and challenges.  But whatever happens, Momma and I will always be proud of you and love you."

So far, I haven't given up, and I'm now half-way through the Ph.D. Here's to finishing by 2013!

Starting in  January 2011, my dad is living in San Diego for a few months as a visiting professor at the University of San Diego, teaching a course on his favorite topic,  The Automobile and American Life. Recently, he published a book on the topic, which has had great reviews and has done  well in the collegiate market. 

(Purchase Here via Amazon)

While he's here in SD, he plans to finish up another book focusing on automobile theft. You can follow his adventures at his own blog (who else has a dad who blogs!?!).

So for the next few months, I have a great support system just down the road, and Tony has a buddy who knows how to work on cars.

Thanks, Dad. Let's enjoy San Diego!

Granny

Today is my Granny's 86th birthday.

(Granny and Mom, 1980-ish)

For those of you who don't know, my Granny helped raise me my whole life. She still lives next door to my mother and father in Ohio--in the house she has lived in since I was born.

She helped teach me how to read and write, how to behave in public, how to say "y'all", and what it meant to have to cut a switch from the row of bushes that separated her yard from the neighbors (it meant--Lisa's in a heap of trouble).  She was not a replacement for my mom, who holds a very special place in my heart, but instead, she was an augmentation of that motherhood.

She is definitely a survivor, who, despite numerous maladies, manages to make it through the day, and can still reserve enough energy to talk with me on the phone for hours. 

Happy Birthday, Granny! You are loved.