Father’s Day 2012

September 2, 2012
by Rodney Olsen
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It’s Father’s Day here in Australia.

While I celebrate with my children I’m also aware that this will be my eleventh Father’s Day without my own dad. Dad passed away in August 2002, just a few days before his 83rd birthday and around a month before Father’s Day of that year..

I really do miss dad but it’s not with an overwhelming sadness because I know he’s in a better place and I know I’ll see him again one day.

I still wish he was able to see Emily and James growing up into the wonderful young people that they’re becoming and to get to know Pauline even better.

I wish I could sit down and hear him tell me one of his stories …. again …. and again.

It’s been interesting over the last few months to have found out a little bit more about our family history as various member of our extended family have been posting bits and pieces to a Facebook page. Maybe it’s because I’m getting older that the events of the past that have helped to make us what we are today seem to be of more interest and carry more significance.

While it’s fascinating to find out facts about those people from the past that I never knew, I wish even more that I had known dad better while he was here. His job meant that he was away for many weeks or even months at a time when I was growing up, and as he was almost 44 when I was born, there was a distance in time between us that was often hard to bridge.

I look forward to a new day when we’ll catch up on everything we’ve missed over the years.

“He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away.” – Revelation 21:4



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Father’s Day 2011

September 4, 2011
by Rodney Olsen
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It’s Father’s Day here in Australia.

While I celebrate with my children I’m also aware that this will be my tenth Father’s Day without my own dad. Dad passed away in August 2002, just a few days before his 83rd birthday.

I really do miss dad but it’s not with an overwhelming sadness because I know he’s in a better place and I know I’ll see him again one day.

I still wish he was able to see Emily and James growing up into the wonderful young people that they’re becoming and to get to know Pauline even better.

I wish I could sit down and hear him tell me one of his stories …. again …. and again.

I look forward to a new day when we’ll catch up on everything we’ve missed over the years.

“He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away.” – Revelation 21:4



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Who’s Your Daddy?

September 2, 2011
by Rodney Olsen
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This Sunday is Father’s Day here in Australia.

I read today that in a recent poll a lot of people compared their dad to Peter Griffin from The Family Guy. It seems they consider their dad to be cuddly, loveable and great for a laugh, just like Peter Griffin.

20th Century Fox asked 1,000 Aussies aged from 18 to 44 which TV dad was most like their own. The choices were:
– Peter Griffin from The Family Guy
– Benjamin Franklin ‘Hawkeye’ Pierce from M*A*S*H
– Seeley Booth from Bone
– Jack Bauer from 24

How about you? What television or movie character best sums up your dad and why? Can you identify with any of the choices they gave or does another character remind you of your dad?

Thanks to Readers Digest Australia for the info on the poll.



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I Get It Now

July 15, 2010
by Rodney Olsen
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I’m finding more and more that being a parent myself helps me understand my own parents better. I guess it’s only natural that I’m seeing things through a dad’s eyes these days.

I remember at times when I was ill as a child that my dad would start feeling ill too. He didn’t like seeing his kids sick and so his body would react to knowing that his children weren’t feeling 100%.

Our son James starting feeling unwell just before dinner last night, which is always better than afterwards because I know it can’t have been my cooking. He only ate a little of his dinner because he was getting stomach cramps. A little while after going to bed he became very distressed and then threw up a couple of times.

He’s a whole lot better today but seeing him hurting last night sent my tummy into a bit of a spin. I didn’t just feel sorry for him; it made me feel physically ill.

I only wish that my father was still around so that I could say, “Hey dad, I get it now.”

Have you started seeing things differently as you move through different stages of life? Has getting a little older helped you to see things from someone else’s perspective? I’d love to read your experiences. Please leave a comment or two.



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90

August 15, 2009
by Rodney Olsen
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Tom_Olsen_Cook.jpgDad would have been 90 yesterday if he’d lived.

I still miss him so much and wish he could be around to experience the little things of life. I’d love to invite him over to see our new house. I know he’d be so thrilled to see how well Emily and James are doing as they grow into the amazing young people that they are.

This time of year is not only a time of remembering the anniversary of dad’s birth but also of his death.

In August of 2002, dad was seriously ill in hospital. Although he was a Christian in his teens, he had not followed Christ after his service as a cook in the second world war.

As he put it he “made his peace with Jesus” while in hospital. In the week following his decision he talked about going home to Jesus his Saviour and of seeing his wife again. (Mum passed away in 1987.) Our family had never heard dad talk that way before. There had been a huge change in him.

On Saturday at the end of that week he was in a pretty bad way. We went to the hospital to visit and he wasn’t really there. Most of the time he was in a very deep sleep. James was just three and a half at the time and I held him in my arms beside the bed. James then started to sing Amazing Grace. It was a song that I would sing to James as I put him to bed each night. I joined James quietly to help him with the words. Dad opened his eyes and acknowledged us there. We stayed a little longer and then headed home. Dad passed away that night just a few days before his 83rd birthday.

We were the last visitors to see dad and I imagine the last thing he would have seen and heard while on this earth was a very small boy, his grandson, singing about the Amazing Grace that he now knows so well.

(Dad was a chef and continued cooking well after his retirement. The photo in this post was him working in the kitchen of the retirement home where he lived in his final years.)



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