something about your parents

[ace_of_something]

I see a lot of bitching about parents on this board. I assume because it's filled with teenagers and angsty middle class 20 somethings. ([a href=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Smash_cut]Smash Cut to[/a] everyone stating that they are not either of those things)

So let's try to say something positive about our folks or at least interesting.

My father and his family immigrated to the USA when he was 3 due to world war II and persecution of the Sami peoples. (my grandfather was drafted 3 days after receiving citizenship despite having 3 young children)
My dad was drafted into the vietnam war in 1963 and because he is 6'7" four of his five tours of duty were served with a flame thrower on his back as the equipment was very heavy and the Army preferred larger men for the task when not in flame throwing infantry he helped maintain what would be called Zippo Tanks when he was able to get out of the field and into an engineering type unit.
He is the only surviving member of his original unit. Many of his brothers in arms died of rather sudden Pancreatic Cancer the prime suspect being[a href=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Agent_orange]Agent Orange and it's friends.[/a] My dad has a tattoo of his unit insignia on his left shoulder it's yellow sword with red flames inside a sort of tear-drop shaped field of black.

Interestingly to this day he remarks he feels really bad about burning so many plants. Never once have I heard him voice any other 'regrets'
That's about all he'll say about his time in the war aside from stating where he was at certain dates.

 

[theSHAH]

My middle eastern father with a thick accent once smacked a sleeping man in the back of the head on an air plane and later apologized claiming "I thought you were my son".

 

[Fappy]

Well I have very few good things I can say about my dad so I won't but my mom is great. She may be a paranoid psycho but she is funny and a really good mom. Step dad's pretty cool too.

 

[Artina89]

Both of my parents are wonderful and supportive. They have shared my triumphs and helped pick up the pieces when things haven't worked out as planned. I credit my parents when I look back at how much I have achieved and how far I have come. In a world with a lot of uncertainty it is wonderful to know there are two people who will be there no matter what. I feel blessed that I have the parents I have.

 

[Erja_Perttu]

My family is awesome. Simple as, they're some of the best people I could ever hope to be related to.

My great grandpa was in the army in WWII. He was a gardener (or a spy who had to cover his tracks really well).

Spoiler: My grandfather was in the Merchant navy, and has tonnes of cool stories. This is one of my favourites.

It was the vogue in the north of England in the fifties, if you owned a pub in a port, to have a small monkey, like a spider monkey, behind the bar. So, my grandpa is in Liverpool getting ready to sail and gets asked by a fella to bring him back one for his bar. This my grandfather does, he brings it back, gets a fiver for it and toddles off on his merry way.

Skip to six months later, he gets back from another trip and goes that bar again. he gets there, sits down, looks around, there's no monkey. So he asks the bloke about it.

"MONKEY!" he roars. "I'll show you your bloody monkey." and he grabs my gramps and takes him out back, where now sat his monkey.

Turns out, he'd given the bloke a (now no longer a) baby gorilla. Oops!

Spoiler: If you're not bored, this is another good one

The ship my grandfather was on started taking in water and looked to be foundering. The crew raced around, looking for the captain and eventually the first mate gave the order to abandon ship.

"But where's Captain Smith?" asked the rest of the crew. The first mate shrugged and pointed.

"Oh, he's over there." and there, rowing away as fast as he could, was the Captain alone in a lifeboat. From then until the day he retired the Captain was known as First-Away Smith.

My nan helped a load of Irish workers escape the taxman using misdirection and a ladder in the 40's. They held a street party for her to say thanks.

Spoiler: My dad was a policeman in the eighties...

and was involved in some cool stuff, car chases, Battle of the Beanfields - he was also involved in the miners strike. One time, he tells me, he was at the head of a convoy of cars heading up over the hill towards a bunch of people making trouble. They'd put a bit of music on as they traveled, and his partner was a bit of a classical music buff, so they were going through a few Wagner tracks. My dad, never one to miss an opportunity for mischief, gets the mic for the megaphone.

And so, cars glistening in the afternoon light, the convoy of police cars screams over the hill to the blaring sound of Ride of the Valkyries.

 

[Phasmal]

Positive or interesting... hmmm...

Mum:
Being an up-and-down kind of depressive, sometimes I would come home and the house would be full of cakes and we'd have a picnic and we used to ride the matress down the stairs. Thinking about it, she was really great fun, we used to play paperchase a lot.

Also, my mum had kids quite young and I think we benefitted from that. She never was one of those `I know what's best` kind of parents, we'd talk things through, and sometimes she'd admit that she didn't know what to do.

This is less `positive` and more `interesting`, (though I still think it's funny), my mum was so feared at my primary school that my headmaster would hide when she picked us up from school. For good reason, when a teacher yelled at my sister when she was about 5 until she wet herself from fear, my mum chased her around the classroom like a firebreathing dragon.

Dad:

He... sure is.... tall?
Nah, I'm kidding, we don't really have a father-daughter relationship but he's an alright bloke when he's not being a twat.
He's a really good artist.
He's way into survival stuff so we used to go for long walks in the country and make shelters and stuff like that.

 

[Dags90]

Eh, my mom is certified crazy. She might not be able to help being a crazy *****, but it doesn't make her not a crazy *****. Her most interesting life achievement is that she managed to do a barrel roll in a Camaro and live to tell about it. Someone else lost a spleen though.

My dad is somewhere in one of the Pink Floyd live albums, that's pretty neat.

 

[Ljs1121]

My dad was in the military, trained for reconnaissance. He has quite a few funny stories to tell about his serving time.

I cannot say anything bad about my mom. She has been absolutely amazing to me since the day I was born and has single-handedly raised me for about twelve years now (My dad moved out when I was three). I love her from the bottom of my heart.

 

[Eclipse Dragon]

My parents are pretty awesome.
They've never done anything like go to war, but they're honest, hard working folks and they've supported me my whole life, weirdness and all, without ever trying to change me.
I wouldn't trade them for any other parents.

 

[RipRoaringWaterfowl]

My parents are good and interesting. I have very little to complain about, so I can say that is the good thing to say about them.

 

[Casual Shinji]

My parents fought for me against all odds eventhough I was a lost cause at birth. Can't get more positive then that.