In my years in Alanon I have seen a lot of outside changes. The emancipation of women, for example.
I saw this clearly- in the life of my mum. She left home the day after our youngest brother left school- and she crafted a life and a career for herself.
This week i had 100% quality time with our oldest old timer in Alanon. I took her a gift and we talked 19 to the dozen. There is very little superficial conversation in Alanon- as we get into it... lots of us have been through a long trail together!
One thing OT always said to me- when our son was born we went to the local blossom festival 5 day later. So I had this tiny baby strapped to my chest in a front-pack. At he time this seemed shocking to OT. She always mentioned this...
...I talked her through this... we talked about the way women went into a maternity home for two weeks- at the time I was born. The father was allowed to visit on a Tuesday- for 30 minutes only.
The cynic in me used to believe that this confinement was designed- so that women would not get pregnant again in the first two weeks!
My picture of fathers and families is that dads used to booze up with their mates- to celebrate the new birth- and would turn up- very bleary eyed at the appointed time on Tuesday.
Our OT is extremely sensitive and intelligent. A real bright spark. She could see where I was coming from. There was not need for me to carry that ounce of shame for exposing our son to all the diseases of the world.
In my years in Alanon I have seen a lot of outside changes. The emancipation of women, for example.
I saw this clearly- in the life of my mum. She left home the day after our youngest brother left school- and she crafted a life and a career for herself.
This week i had 100% quality time with our oldest old timer in Alanon. I took her a gift and we talked 19 to the dozen. There is very little superficial conversation in Alanon- as we get into it... lots of us have been through a long trail together!
One thing OT always said to me- when our son was born we went to the local blossom festival 5 day later. So I had this tiny baby strapped to my chest in a front-pack. At he time this seemed shocking to OT. She always mentioned this...
...I talked her through this... we talked about the way women went into a maternity home for two weeks- at the time I was born. The father was allowed to visit on a Tuesday- for 30 minutes only.
The cynic in me used to believe that this confinement was designed- so that women would not get pregnant again in the first two weeks!
My picture of fathers and families is that dads used to booze up with their mates- to celebrate the new birth- and would turn up- very bleary eyed at the appointed time on Tuesday.
Our OT is extremely sensitive and intelligent. A real bright spark. She could see where I was coming from. There was not need for me to carry that ounce of shame for exposing our son to all the diseases of the world.
Thanks for the share.
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