Let’s start a community where we share the wonderful lessons we learned from our family members. Please share your stories in the Forums.

http://lessonsfromourfathers.com/forum/

Introduction to Lessons From Our Fathers:

I started this website around the holidays – a time of year we all reflect on our fathers and the role that they played in our lives. Some of us have happy memories and some sad, but we all have lessons we learned from our fathers. If you were lucky, you had a chance to see values and actions that gave you courage, hope, self-confidence, joy, and a path for your own life.This site is about our stories – about the lessons we learned from our fathers. They didn’t need to be perfect or saint-like. They passed these life lessons on to us by the way they lived their lives, by the way they fought through their own challenges and came through a better person, and by the way they taught us to challenge ourselves. Fathers aren’t necessarily the father listed on a birth certificate. People can come into your life and pick up the banner of “father” and be that father figure to you when your biological father could not or would not play that role. This book is about all the men that stepped up to the challenge of being a father in someone’s life. This is my story, but even more, it is the story of thousands of contributors who want to honor the fathers in their lives.  I share the story about my father on this page. 

Jeanette Szwec

Never Give Up On Your Dreams - The Lesson I Learned

From My Father.

John came to the United States as a Ukrainian immigrant when he was 14 years old. Unable to speak English but willing to do anything to succeed, John learned the language, became a barber, and opened up his own business in the small town of Clifton Heights, PA. He put two daughters through college and one through medical school during a time when most people thought that women didn’t need an education and that they should be satisfied getting married and having children. He had his faults but he gave us values and ambition – a mighty combination. But this story doesn’t really start until my father was 60 years old.

I was preparing to get married and my father was attempting to practice the polka, a must at any Ukrainian wedding. But he couldn’t do it! He had lost significant mobility in his leg and was soon diagnosed with a brain tumor. One surgery later, this energetic, hard-working man was forced to retire as a result of significant paralysis in his right arm and leg. My Dad had always worked two jobs and spent his spare time working around the house. Now his life came to a screeching halt. Yet never once did he complain. He bought rubber balls for physical therapy and spent his days trying to regain his hand mobility by squeezing those balls over and over. A few years later, fate threw him another curve ball. He was diagnosed with a recurring brain tumor.

I will never forget the day I went to visit him after his second brain surgery. Smiling as always, he chatted pleasantly in the hospital room until a nurse flew into the room, waving her finger at me, and yelling, “You better tell your father to stay in bed. He is paralyzed and will never walk again. He needs to stop trying to get out of bed and accept the fact that he can’t walk now or ever. Every time I walk out of his room, he tries to get out of the bed and then falls on the floor. I am sick of picking him up and you better warn him to stay put!”

With that, she steamed out of the room, thinking she had dealt with her problem patient. My father smiled, put his arms behind him on the bed to brace himself, and immediately tried to lift himself out of that bed. He spent a great deal of time on the floor that year, but he eventually got up and walked. He never sprinted across a room – it was more a will that propelled half of his body forward and dragged the other half to catch up.

My father lived nineteen more years after that second brain surgery. He bought himself a motorized scooter and spent years zipping around the streets of Philadelphia. He was proud, free, and always smiling.

My Father’s Lesson: My father planted a belief deep in my heart that taught me to never give up. No matter what misfortune comes your way, shove it aside and go for your dreams. Go for it and never give up. This is the lesson my father taught me and I then taught my son.

My dear, sweet father died at age 89 in a nursing home. He was sharing a room with a man who was blind. When the blind man dropped something, my father leaned over to help him pick it up, lost his balance, and hit his head. To the last minute of his life, he was reaching out to others.

Dad – I Will Never Give Up on My Dreams

              With Love From Jeanette

Let’s also Remember other Loved Ones: 

I am also writing a series of Electronic Books (Books that will be published on the Internet):

• Lessons from Our Fathers
• Lessons from Our Mothers
• Lessons from Our Children
• Lessons from Our Sisters
• Lessons from Our Brothers
• Lessons from Our Grandmothers
• Lessons from Our Grandfathers
• Lessons from Our Friends
• Lessons from Our Teachers

If you would like to tell your story, please click on the button marked “Forums” at the top of the page - that will take you to the forums where you can share your wonderful stories with this community (or you can click on the link below).

http://lessonsfromourfathers.com/forum/

If you would like to have your story published in one of my E-books, send me an email to TellYourStory@charter.net .

You can use the story about my father as an example. Looking forward to hearing your stories.

Jeanette Szwec

How to Get Around this Website:

• Bookmark this site or subscribe to get email updates. The subscription form is in the right column. Every time  a new article is posted on this site, you will receive an email notifying you of the post.
• At the top of the page, you will see buttons for the blog and for the forums
  • The blog entries are listed by date - from newest to oldest. Explore the older posts as they can have just the information you need.
  • The forum is set up so you can share your own stories about your loved ones. You can enter the forum by clicking on the forum button at the top of the page.  The forum is set up by topic, so click on the topic you are interested in.  You will need to register in order to post on the forum. This is not the same as subscribing for email updates - it is a separate registration.  The software requires a registration to avoid “spam” - some spammers have computerized systems of posting to websites - and it is usually ads or even porn. To avoid those computerized spammers, this forum requires a registration in order to post a comment.

• Categories
  • The blog is divided into several categories. In the far-right hand column, under Categories, you will see the various categories covered in the blog posts. Click on any category, and all posts related to that category will show up on a webpage.

Be a Participant :

• After each blog post, there is an area where you can submit a comment.
• Post often in the Forums and share your own stories.
• Let me know what you want this website to provide and I will do my best to serve your needs.

Thank you for visiting.