DocAndersen
I am wondering some of dad’s pictures. A great picture of mom and her dear friend to start off and then some cool Sand Sculptures. When dad retired, and a few months later mom retired, they traveled. Well, they traveled while health was good enough. Part of dad retiring was hard for him. Dad loved being a teacher; it was a significant part of him. He loved guiding students on their path to where they were going. I know that was hard for him. I visited them in Thailand, where dad was teaching after returning from the University. He still taught in Thailand, and you can see the difference. He was more alive when he was teaching than at any other time.
Not that dad was absent when we were kids. He was alive around us as well. Perhaps alive is the wrong word. Dad was more animated, more engaged when he was teaching. He was always teaching us as his children. Finding different ways we could learn. The most important thing I learned was the next thing to be learned! I sometimes wonder as I wander my life if we are born with a predisposition to certain directions in life. I know there are friends of mien that can open the hood of a car, and see the problem. I have other friends who can look at an engine and tell you what is wrong. I can’t do that, but I can at times look at a computer and tell you why it isn’t doing what you want.
When I was little, I didn’t understand why my teachers would say “Dr. Andersen is your father; you are so lucky.” I know later as a teenager, and beyond I didn’t like it when people said that. Later, as I moved into my world, I loved hearing that. Funny how the cycle goes. Seeing dad in Bangkok, reminded me of just how much he loved teaching. It reminded me of that person that touched the lives of so many other teachers. Dad always used to say “Those who can do. Those who can’t do, teach. Those who can’t teach, teach teachers.” He would leave the end of the sentence with his wry sarcasm smile. I know that smile took me years to understand. Being a teacher, was everything to my father!
