The key slid easily into the lock and made a snickety-click as I turned it to unlock our apartment door. My sister and I entered and threw down our school backpacks and turned our attention to the kitchen to find an after school snack. Our father was most likely at work and would be home in time to prepare a simple and nutritious meal for our small family. Then our father would help us with our homework before tackling his own. This sequence of events would be repeated with a few variations for a few years in a few different towns. The biggest difference I remember is how much clothing we had to wear to protect us from the elements which ranged from the bitter cold of northern Montana to the winter rains of Corvallis and the sweltering heat of Louisiana’s bayou country.
Looking back as I now enter school with two young children of my own I see many parallels between my present circumstances and what my father went through as he pursued his Master’s degree. It is amazing to me that my father took in stride things that seem nearly insurmountable to me. I often wonder how my father was able to attend school full time, work full time and still find time to raise us on his own with little outside help. I vividly remember innumerable trips to discover the natural world around us, whether it was fossil hunting in the Badlands of Havre, Montana, exploring the Cascade and Coast Ranges of Oregon looking for mushrooms and other fungi or mucking through the swamps of Louisiana trying to find rare amphibians.
I have asked my father how he was able to juggle two young children, full time work and a 4.0+ grade point average and his response was “I don’t remember”. Initially, I was disappointed that I wouldn’t get any advice from him. Now, as I think about it more and more, it makes me wonder if he felt much the same as I do, nearly overwhelmed with all that appears to be facing me yet unwilling to give up no matter what. I never once got the impression that the demand of furthering his own education and raising two young children was difficult for him. Perhaps this is what other people see from me and this gives me a great sense of comfort. I’ll just put one foot in front of the other as my father did and with a little luck I can give my children the skills to do the same.
Nate Slocombe
Nephew/Son of The Girls
Looking back as I now enter school with two young children of my own I see many parallels between my present circumstances and what my father went through as he pursued his Master’s degree. It is amazing to me that my father took in stride things that seem nearly insurmountable to me. I often wonder how my father was able to attend school full time, work full time and still find time to raise us on his own with little outside help. I vividly remember innumerable trips to discover the natural world around us, whether it was fossil hunting in the Badlands of Havre, Montana, exploring the Cascade and Coast Ranges of Oregon looking for mushrooms and other fungi or mucking through the swamps of Louisiana trying to find rare amphibians.
I have asked my father how he was able to juggle two young children, full time work and a 4.0+ grade point average and his response was “I don’t remember”. Initially, I was disappointed that I wouldn’t get any advice from him. Now, as I think about it more and more, it makes me wonder if he felt much the same as I do, nearly overwhelmed with all that appears to be facing me yet unwilling to give up no matter what. I never once got the impression that the demand of furthering his own education and raising two young children was difficult for him. Perhaps this is what other people see from me and this gives me a great sense of comfort. I’ll just put one foot in front of the other as my father did and with a little luck I can give my children the skills to do the same.
Nate Slocombe
Nephew/Son of The Girls
Oh my ?#@*, you made me cry when I read this. I remember all of it, except for mucking the swamps for amphibians thing. You know what, I know that Dad felt the same as you do, but he would never, ever show it (hence the incident in Louisiana). Which makes me think that I need to show my frustrations, and let others in, that the same thing doesn't happen to me. I sure do love you Nate.
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