"When I Was Your Age..."

One of the stories that is told consistently every chance my dad has is about his first job. He loves to talk about how at 14 years old he lied that he was 16 to get a job washing pots and pans at a little bakery in Southfield. He would bike there every day and scrub the pots and pans until his hands were bloody. After work, my dad would go to play basketball with his friends, and had to wear baseball gloves because his hands would bleed on the ball. However this story wasn’t just another reason for my dad to complain about my siblings and I not having jobs, it’s always a way to compare his childhood to ours. It’s a way to put our privilege into perspective, and a way to show how we have developed our own responsibilities and skills while in completely different circumstances. We are lucky enough to not have to go through work like that, especially not at such a young age. While sometimes my dad pulls out that story to call me lazy in comparison to his younger self, it’s also a way for my dad to share the hardships of his childhood that made him the person he is today. There are no concrete answers, but I do wonder if my dad would have the same workaholic energy without the hardworking and driven childhood. The story is true, but it is told by my father consistently every time, leaving plenty of opportunity for bias. I can speculate that some of the details my dad says are “slightly” exaggerated for emphasis and extra pity, but the moral of the story still holds strong. The stories my dad loves to share about all the jobs he had growing up are extremely common, and while I appreciate how open my dad is to sharing about his life, the same stories getting told over and over do get a little bit old. 

Linked here is a very nostalgic song that stories about my dad make me think of! Also can't forget this gem of a father-daughter song!

My Dad & Me <3