Archive for the ‘grandsons’ tag
The Sins of the Father
This is a photo of my father-in-law as a young man of twenty-six as he prepared to leave his homeland in the Ukraine for a new life in Canada. In the process, he changed his name from that he was given to a name less likely to be traced, that of a man who was unlikely to ever leave his home village in the old country.
This is the name of the story I am busy writing. It is based on the life of a real man, my father-in-law. If you click on the link above, you will be able to read the first fifteen pages of his story – well the background story to his story. His story begins before his birth as do all of our stories. Our stories as men begin with the fathers of our fathers. Our stories as women begin with the stories of the mothers of our mothers. In a way, I guess you could say that the sins of our grandparents are visited upon us.
Not that I am his son, but my son is his grandson. I wonder if the sins of the maternal grandfather get visited upon their grandsons. Somehow, I think they do in a curious way, through the daughter to the son.
Once I have finished this book, I will dare to begin writing the story of my father, his father and myself. This will be a gift to my son as well as my daughters and to my grandchildren. Perhaps the work of making the shadows less dark will lighten the load for them.
