Praise – Carl Grau
When I married Julie in 1991 I married her family, too: sister Ann, nieces Kim and Laura, father Carl, our Dad. Carl and I admired each other; we had a lot in common. I related to his adventures, his wanderlust and his engineering career. And from Carl Grau, engineer, hero, friend, and Dad, I heard the Elder Praise I needed so much in my younger years. Read more
Elder Praise
I was raised in a family where the Lord, Jesus, God, Heavenly Father and all the rest of the deities were much praised; but where we children rarely received recognition. Enthusiastic Child Appreciation was not the fashion those days as it is now – perhaps that was due to British “reserve”; but likely not. Still, I do not recall pining for recognition as a child. I do remember the joy of minor triumphs stunted by “You should have done better”. Once, a decent school report was defaced by my father’s written recommendation: “This boy needs a good thrashing”. Although thrashings, negative Child Appreciations, were the fashion in those days, I was not caned often at school. That was just as well, since bruising punishments (to flog Satan from my soul) were rendered at home, ending only when I became angry enough in my early teens to fight back, and when my parents separated. Read more
