My father died when I was 7. I was his favorite child, and he was my beloved father. I brought him along with me all through my life. Every elderly man has a bit of my father in him for me.
Interpretation
This quote reflects on the enduring impact of a parent's love and influence throughout one's life.
P. L. Travers poignantly expresses the profound connection she shares with her father, who passed away when she was young. The quote highlights the idea that the love and lessons imparted by a parent resonate throughout a person's life, shaping their perceptions and interactions with others, emphasizing that every elder embodies a part of her father's legacy.
In practice
Sharing this quote at a family gathering to honor a deceased loved one.
Could it be ... that the hero is one who is willing to set out, take the first step, shoulder something? Perhaps the hero is one who puts his foot upon a path not knowing what he may expect from life but in some way feeling in his bones that life expects something of him.
Don't you know that everybody's got a Fairyland of their own?
Every child needs to have for itself not only its loving parents and siblings and friends of its own age, but a grown-up friend.
For me there are no answers, only questions, and I am grateful that the questions go on and on. I don't look for an answer, because I don't think there is one. I'm very glad to be the bearer of a question.
The babe at first feeds upon the mother's bosom, but it is always on her heart.
My grandson Sam Saunders has been playing golf since he could hold a club and I spent a lot of time with him over the years. Like my father taught me, I showed him the fundamentals of the game and helped him make adjustments as he and his game matured over the years.
I grew up without a father, who was kept a mystery to me. There was a sense of uprootedness, things being one day here and the next day not; a sense anything could happen. Then, all of a sudden, my mother met my stepfather, and her life became happier, and my life changed, my name changed.
Every mother can easily imagine losing a child. Motherhood is always half loss anyway. The three-year-old is lost at five, the five-year-old at nine. We consort with ghosts, even as we sit and eat with, scold and kiss, their current corporeal forms. We speak to people who have vanished and, when they answer us, they do the same. Naturally, the information in these speeches is garbled in the translation.
Family is supposed to be our safe haven. Very often, it's the place where we find the deepest heartache.
Yes, your family history has some sad chapters. But your history doesn't have to be your future. The generational garbage can stop here and now.
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