CONVERSATION STARTER FOR PARENTS
When my dad was sixteen, he left home. It sounds strange by today’s standards, but he actually wasn’t running away. Just the opposite. He was running into his future. At sixteen, he left his small town in North Holland for the big city of Amsterdam to find work and his future as a young man. Then at nineteen, he got on a plane to Canada where he saw even more opportunity.
When I talk to my dad about it now, he says it was hard on his parents. His mom and dad didn’t want him to leave, but they understood his desire to find his own way. When he stepped on the plane at nineteen in 1959, his parents had an even harder time. They honestly thought they would never see each other again. It was a distinct possibility given how expensive travel was back then. The farewell was unbelievably emotional for everyone.
As a father myself, I can only imagine how hard it would have been for my grandparents. Can you imagine letting your son or daughter go at such a young age, thinking you would never see them again? As in never?
What would you do?
My grandfather and grandmother did something amazing. They let my dad live his story, not theirs. They gave up control and protection, and let God write a story in my dad’s life that was independent of their own.
I’m kind of grateful for that. When my dad arrived in Canada as a single young man, he met my mom. Without that, my life would have been very different. Well actually, it just wouldn’t have been . . . period.