He was born two weeks late. His dad had been home on the due date. Now he was hours away, in charge of a camp. Long before cell phones, a telephone call somehow got through. He drove all as fast as he could.

They didn’t have any courses in parenting. Not many books. Just a war vet and a farmer’s daughter, each the youngest of four.

His parents were both from immigrant families. Both his mom and dad were either the first or second generation born in this country. All had come from Sweden, None were wealthy when they came. (Actually, none ended up wealthy.)

His parents were pretty strict by most standards: no movies, no drinking, no dancing. They always went to church. In fact, his dad was an ordained minister, though he never pastored a church. Somehow, though, the strictness never came across as legalistic. There wasn’t a fear associated with it. There wasn’t any attempt to figure out how far the lines would bend without breaking.

His mom was a teacher by training, and when the youngest child was 3 or 4, she went back to substitute teaching. She had horrible migraines, but he never knew. He just knew she was around.

His parents encouraged music. He took organ lessons for years. Somehow, however, he never took to the discipline of practicing. As a result, he understood music far better than he performed it. However, he grew to love working behind the scenes, helping with music, with production, with people.

Because his parents were always helping people. Their parents had reputations as people-helpers as well. It was a clan of caring. His two sisters, both younger, carry the gene..

It was also a clan of living away from each other. His parents moved eight hours from the rest of both of their families. In those days, that was a long way. Phone calls were expensive.

Fifty years ago, he was born two weeks late. At the time it was pretty scary. In retrospect, it’s life.

Thanks Mom and Dad. You did great.

by Jon Swanson

Photo graciously provided by the author, through a Creative Commons license, some rights reserved