My parents

Because I'm so grateful to have such great parents I'd like to dedicate this post to them. Friends have always told me how lucky I am to have parents who are still so much in love, who never fight and who do so much for me. My parents' marriage is what everyone strives for, what I hope to have some day, but I know is hard to obtain and maintain. My parents are in their early fifties, married for 25 years and still give each other kisses, cuddle in the couch and I have never seen them in a real fight. Nagging sure :p but never an actual fight. My dad calls my mom from work every day while she's having lunch at home (she works close to home so eats lunch here), how sweet is that! And they did a great job raising me and my brother and giving us everything we need, we were even a little spoiled. I never had to pay for college, they paid for my little room in Gent (college city) and give me allowance to pay for food during the week. I know a lot of people are not that lucky. So thank you mom and dad, you're the best. This is for you.


Dad






(sorry for the weird scan, I can't figure it out) This is my dad. His name is Danny and he was born in 1956. So this is a really old photo. I love looking at all these old pictures in the albums, its like a window to the past. My dad was born when my grand-parents had already turned fourty, so my aunt and uncle are 8 and 10 years older than him. So all my cousins are a lot older than me. He had a little brother, one year younger than him (guess my grandma had a last-minute desire for more babies), but he died when he was around 3. His name was Redgy. He fell of something and hit his head, he seemed ok outwardly, just crying, so the doctor told my grandparents to put him to bed. When they came up to check an hour later he had died. Brain haemorrhage probably. Very sad, but nobody could have saved him.
My dad was a true 70's child, and loved disco music, flared jeans and insanely tight and rather short shirts. I find some pictures rather hilarious, resulting in him exclaiming: It was the fashion!!!

Here's some proof of disco-dad in the 70's.













My dad was in the army for a few years when he was in his twenties. He was pretty fit back in the day (now he has the typical older man belly :D) He often did the night shift, walking around in pitch dark around the grounds with his shepherd Tarzan (very original) who usually ran off to chase rabbits rather then guard.
Here's my dad all tough in his army outfit.

















mom


This is my mom, 18 months old, in her stroller (I love these old strollers, I'd love to get a hold of one when one day I have a baby, fix it up a bit, would look pretty cool :) ) Her name is Christine and she was born in 1958. My maternal grandparents also had her when they had already turned 40. Which is very unfortunate for me and my brother; as all our cousins are a lot older than us. My youngest cousin is eleven years older. Mom was an accident, but still welcome. Although my grandmother was worried that her oldest son (18 at the time) would get married while she was still pregnant as that would be very awkward for her in the church! Luckily he waited another two years.



This is my mom wearing her confirmation outfit. In those days girls were still dressed all bride-like for that. In my day, it was just a fancy cute outfit from the boutique.








My mom was not at all a child of the disco era like my dad, my mom got stuck in the 60's and ignored the disco music and kept being a hippie (minus the drugs and free love). She listened to rock music, was completely crazy about David Bowie, didn't care about the latest fashion and was usually found in her favourite bar with her hippie long-haired friends. She sure was something! Didn't fit in with her Abba and so on loving classmates, and preferred listening to records most of the time.
This is my mom at 25. My dad loved this photo (probably because of the short skirt and lack of bra :p) and it was up enlarged in my parents room for quite a few years. I always liked it too. Weird to think I'm nearly that age now too! Time does fly. Notice the perm, everyone had it in those days. Bet quite a few of your mothers had a hairstyle like that in the 80's and 90's!






In spite of the big personality differences, my parents are clearly a great match. Maybe opposites do attract. They met when my mom was 24, and they moved in with each other two short months later. My mom really wanted to move out of her parents' house :p. They got married two years later.






And two years after that, there was me! A mix of both :) although perhaps a little bit more like my mom!