He Watered It, He Pulled the Weeds....

Writing about Father's Day is tricky for me.

I had a wonderful father and would like to salute him and thank him for his love and support all these many years! He worked hard to support a family of five and still to this day...works so as not to be a "burden" to others. BTW: He's NOT a burden to anyone! So Happy Father's Day, Daddy...you are loved...you are the best!

So I know you are waiting...there is a BUT coming here, isn't there? And the answer is a resounding YES, there is....here it comes...."BUT....everyone isn't so fortunate." I would like to use the following analogy to explain...

Fathering a child is a lot like being a planter of a garden. A good gardener continues to take care of the seedlings as they mature...he waters, nurtures, attends to the needs of, and weeds like crazy. The good gardener doesn't just leave the seedlings to "bring themselves up". The good gardener doesn't desert the troops...he hangs in there...through thick and thin...

He doesn't see another plot of land that looks better and begin a new garden. If he does, for some reason, begin another garden, he makes sure he continues his allegiance to the first one...so that the seedlings don't wither and die.

Too many "seedlings" are left to someone else's care. Whether it be a mother, grandparents, gang members, teachers, friends...step-parents...somebody is going to raise those seedlings...

For just a minute, let's talk about step-gardeners...you know those people who are darned if they do and darned if they don't...you remember them, don't you? The ones who seldom, in the seedling's eyes, do anything right. Until the seedling matures and then many times, the step-gardener begins to look a lot wiser...remember him? He stepped up to the plate...and he kept on keeping on when the original gardener got more interested in his new plot of ground than the one he already had tilled and planted. It's rather difficult to take the high ground here...when you see so many children who are fatherless...it takes a heck of a lot more guts to actually raise a child than to father one.
I would like to tell my husband, one of the millions of step-gardeners in this country, a very heartfelt Thank YOU for being such a stand up guy. A public show of appreciation is due all the good step-parents in this crazy world of ours. Those are the ones who truly stepped up to the plate and if they didn't hit a grandslam, then they were exhausted by the effort they made.

For those of you who weren't or aren't in the good gardener category, well...I'll be silent on that point...besides, it's not me you are going to answer to. I'll leave that to the Great Gardener.

Words worth pondering,
Angela

My Father, The Professional Photographer

Last Saturday at Coachlight Manor, we were treated to a wonderful photography exhibit by my father, Robert Alexander & some of his students. He has now been a professional photographer for over 6o years. He presented both recent work and some photos that were examples of his very first photos. The 50 photos ranged from hummingbirds to University of Mississippi beauties.


After over 60 years of of specializing in the "Hollywood Style" of portraits and Military Reunion groups, he taught Digital Photography and Photoshop at Holmes Community College. He has been fortunate to have his best male student, Ed Gardner, who is also the Official Photographer of the MS Braves baseball team, join him in photographing the military reunions pictures.

He has honed his craft through the years and was also one of the driving forces behind the establishment of MS/ALA Professional Photographers Association. A former Naval aviator, he returned to his home state of Mississippi where his career began. As cameras evolved, so did his methods and as recently as two years ago he was still teaching the Community College course. His exhibit at Holmes CC had almost 1,000 people in attendance when it was shown there.

Although this exhibit was on a smaller scale, the residents and attendees enjoyed a holiday afternoon visiting, eating wonderful refreshments made by Mrs. Hanna and her helpers, and looking at the pictures that had been made. With the exception of a few, all photographs were taken during the past two years. I thought you might like to see what 83+ year old people in our neck of the woods do as a pasttime!

Pictured are a few of the attendees and some of his work both past and present.