Skip to main content
Yesterday was my parents’' 45th wedding anniversary. In this day and age, that number seems monumental. I failed to call them, which is ludicrous because of all the days in the year, this would seem the most important. If they'd never gotten married, you wouldn't be reading this blog because good old' Scott wouldn't exist. Plain and simple.

I know from my few conversations with them about it that my parents had a rough go of it early in their relationship. My grandfather Lamb actually broke them up at one point. But their love was too strong and they found their way back into each other’s lives. After they were engaged, my dad was never in favor with my grandfather. I admire my mom for sticking up for the man she loved, even though her father disapproved.

My father graduated and got his first job in Georgia while my mom completed nursing school at the University of Miami. Each weekend, he would drive back down to Florida to see her. Can you imagine? That took a lot of love... and stamina. Their first year of marriage was tough. They were in Georgia during the 60's. My dad taught black students and was pretty liberal in his beliefs. Every student deserved an education is how he felt. I know they must have experienced some pretty harsh stuff while living in the south. In the 80's, when I was gearing up to paint the car that would become the Whomobile, I first proposed painting the Confederate flag on the room of that beat up Delta 88. My dad flat out refused. When I asked, he simply said, "I lived in the south. We won't have that flag on our car." After my older sister Beth was born, a job opening at my dad’s high school alma mater opened up. He got the job and returned to his hometown of North Olmsted, Ohio in the late 60’s.

In Ohio, my folks first lived in a trailer park while they saved money for a house. During that time, my brother, Budd, was born and the family basically lived on white bread sandwiches with little to no furniture. The first house they lived in was near the North Olmsted high school. That was the house they were living in when I was born. I have no memories of it. Soon thereafter, they purchased the large plot of land on North Park Drive where they would build their last house in Ohio. This was a great house. And after my sister, Heidi was born; the transition to Ohio was complete. They lived in that same house from the early 70's until they moved to Tucson in the mid- 90's.

I know that life was not easy for them. Raising four kids must have been insane. There have been financial scares. Job scares. Health scares. But many, many good things, too. I have learned how to be confident, when to shut the hell up, when to stand up for myself and I learned how to be loyal to your family no matter how much bullshit comes between you. My parents were tough at times. There are things that they did that I will never do to my own children. I attribute their child raising technique to the time they were born and to the way they were raised. Not everything they did was right. But from their mistakes, we, their children, have learned to be better people and better parents. As I continue to try and raise Sophie and Jacob the best that I can, I know that I'll make mistakes, too. And I know that my kids will grow into better people than I will ever be.

I guess that's the lesson of parenthood. You do your best to raise your kids with your love and hope that they continue to grow into good human beings. I believe that the Malchus kids all turned out fine. And for that, I owe my folks a great big hug and a thank you.

Thanks Mom & Dad. Happy Anniversary.

Love,
Scott

Comments

Ted said…
A very nice tribute, Scott. :-)

Popular posts from this blog

MARATHON FOOTNOTES (for those who didn't think I would really footnote a stream of consciousness thought): Footnote #1 Academy Award Winning Best Picture Films from 1969 to the Present: Midnight Cowboy, Patton, The French Connection, The Godfather, The Sting, The Godfather II, One Flew Over The Cuckoo’s Nest, Rocky, Annie Hall, The Deer Hunter, Kramer Vs. Kramer, Ordinary People, Chariots of Fire, Gandhi, Terms of Endearment, Amadeus, Out of Africa, Platoon, The Last Emperor, Rain Man, Driving Miss Daisy, Dances With Wolves, The Silence of the Lambs, Unforgiven, Schindler’s List, Forrest Gump, Braveheart, The English Patient, Titanic, Shakespeare in Love, American Beauty, Gladiator, A Beautiful Mind, Chicago, Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King. Footnote #2 Members of the band YES, from 1969 to the present: In 1969, Yes is formed with Jon Anderson on vocals Peter Banks on guitar, Bill Bruford on drums, Tony Kaye on keyboards and Chris Squire playing bass. This group records

100 and Counting: Introducing The Epic Playlist

It started as all playlists do, an occasion that justified music for entertainment. In this case, it was a couples weekend getaway back in February. Super Dave proposed that he and I provide the tunes and we started a Spotify playlist: three songs at a time, no song repeats, no artist repeats. Dave would add his three, then text me that it was my turn. I would then add my three text him back. This cycle repeated until three hundred songs were compiled, and we drove off to Mammoth with our wives. A funny thing happened, though, it turned out we both enjoyed the challenge of trying to surprise or outdo the other so much that we continued building the playlist. We made a new rule of just three songs each a day and still no artist repeats. Soon, we came up with amendments to allow duets (The Emmylou Exception), multiple songs by the same band if said band had multiple lead singers (The Beatles Exception), or if there was a lead singer replacement that changed the artistic direction of

A Trip Through the "My 90's Tapes" Collection Pt. 6: Joan Jett and The Blackhearts "Up Your Alley"

Column 1, Row 6: Joan Jett and The Blackhearts, Up Your Alley In 1988, hair metal was on the rise and straight forward rock and roll was losing radio airplay. If the music wasn't a little slick and the mix didn't sound like the record was recorded in a sports arena, there was little chance of getting heard. There were exceptions, of course (Tracy Chapman comes to mind), but for the most part, loud and echoey was the sound of the day. At that time, Joan Jett and her latest version of the Blackhearts had been together for a few years and were clicking. The band members were Ricky Byrd on lead guitar and vocals, Kasim Sulton on bass and vocals, and Thommy Price on drums. Jett was coming off of co-starring with Michael J. Fox in Paul Schrader's film, Light of Day . Although the film wasn't a hit, it was high profile enough to bring the rock legend back into the public eye after years working the road and trying to rebuild the success of her early 80s albums, including the s