I dreamt about me Da. We were sitting at my Aunt Eva's house in Winter Haven Florida present day and they talking to each other about me, noting how well I was doing in the very deadpan way they did. They would compliment you and you wouldn't even know it.
This may not seem like strange dream, but the twist is that both my Aunt and my Pop are gone. I lost my Pop back in 2001 and my Aunt in 2004. Since they were both pre internet age (by a significant part of a century) I want to try and immortalize them, just a little bit, by typing their names here:
David Jerome Cooper O'Dell, born: March 14, 1919, died: December 1, 2001
Eve Diane Moore born 1914 in Worcestershire, England died: 2004 Winter Haven Florida
(They were siblings, BTW)
Maybe someday someone will do a Google search and I want there to be at least one hit.
I think about my Dad and Aunt E often as well as my Mom .....who also passed away in 2004...(2004 was not a good year for me), but I don't dream of them often. So this dream was unusual and it kind of hit me.
My Dad is largely responsible for the foundation of my engineering career. Being an engineer himself and recognizing that all those toys I use to take apart meant I had that knack. He would give me LEGOs, Erector Sets and all sorts of build-it toys, but he also gave me things like a differential to a car and electromagnetic relay and a lawnmower engine.
Strange gifts, but if you are an engineer...a REAL engineer, these are better than any bike, rocket, robot or airplane. Because they are real hardware, they click and clack, twirl and whirl.
Additionally, my Dad would help me take them apart and show me how they worked. We would put them back together and (hopefully) they would work again. I remember the time he and I rebuilt a lawnmover. You can't imagine the joy that I felt when the rickety old LanwBoy roared to life again, rejuvenated.
All those things me dad taught me gave me a incredible advantage during engineering school. All the other students would do great with pencil and paper but were useless when they had to either check their answers if they made sense or had to turn it into reality.
Even today, those skills I was given have paid huge dividends. Even though my last job was mostly design and programming, I did my own wiring, assembly, machining and fabrication. The machinists knew me by name and would come visit me in the lab on their breaks. If I needed some work done in an emergency, they would stay late and help me out.
My Dad taught me to machine and instilled the respect for the work and those who made their living by that work.
Unfortunately, my Dad died very early in my career and didn't really get to see my progress. He only knew I worked on computers. His surviving friends would always tell me that he was very proud of me, but I wish he could have seen me now.
As I head out on my ride on this beautiful sunny day in San Diego, I will be thinking of my parents and the family I have lost and appreciate all they have given me.
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