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My dad lost his job when I was 7 years old and my sister was 5. He went through 5 years of un- and under-employment. It was harrowing for him and my mom. But he

My dad lost his job when I was 7 years old and my sister was 5. He went through 5 years of un- and under-employment. It was harrowing for him and my mom. But he also said in his later years that he would not have been there to see his kids growing up if he'd maintained the steady career progression that he originally expected. I have many fond memories of doing things with my dad during those years. He showed me how to start programming the family Commodore 64 [1]. We did experiments from books of science fair projects -- not for science fairs, just to satisfy my curiosity. We went on camping and fishing trips during summers and school vacations. When I visited friends' houses their dads didn't show up until later in the evening. They were also usually too tired from work to play or work on projects with us like my dad did when I had friends over. I wouldn't wish involuntary unemployment on anyone. My family was lucky that my dad found steady salaried work again before the savings account was completely drained. The stress could have broken a weaker marriage. But I also got something from my dad's extra availability that I wouldn't even have known to miss until adulthood otherwise. Kids will remember and cherish extra engagement with them, whether the time you put in is planned or not. [1] I partially credit my own career to his early help with programming. My friends growing up used 8 bit home computers too. But they didn't have dads working through the C64 Programmer's Reference Guide with them. They learned just enough to load/run software and I learned to write my own. I know that some kids can just pick up a teach-yourself book and learn simple programming on their own. 9-year-old me couldn't. I needed help from my dad. (Thanks, Dad. I miss you.)

patrickdavey 8y ago
That's a really lovely story, thanks for sharing it. Wish I could upvote twice :)
52-6F-62 8y ago
You were very lucky in more ways than the one. That's a great story, though. Those kinds of memories and meaning in your work are priceless. My father was overworking most of the time due to his career as a pipefitter for Imperial Oil. He spent two terms unemployed— once when we moved to our small SW Ontario town (long story why), and another during an illness that lasted about a year. Because my mother had left her career in insurance to look after us, our college savings were depleted (the last thing they touched to make payments). I don't remember the times he was unemployed very much. Much of my family was ill at the same time he was and I spent a lot of time looking after them (with my thoroughly tough mother)— otherwise he was driving an 2-3 hours round-trip to the union hall every day to try and find contract work. So I didn't see much of the guy when I was young, and when I did he was exhausted and often cranky. There were some great moments in there, and he still taught me as much as he could while I was there, but I'm just remarking on the work and unemployment and family time thing. Funnily, I got into programming because my mother had an [name I don't remember] 80286 from her work as an insurance analyst and I dug right into that machine. Then the internet finally came to town... .. Really, thanks for sharing that.
- philipkglass 8y ago
  You were very lucky in more ways than the one. Most definitely. I get a bit of existential vertigo when I think about how much of my often-happy life has depended on luck. It intensifies when I consider how many of those lucky circumstances were determined before my birth.
  - 52-6F-62 8y ago
    Existential vertigo— I’m going to have to remember that term
    - iagreewithyou 8y ago
      Same here - I've been trying unsuccessfully to put that feeling into words for 20 years!
danielbarla 8y ago
> They learned just enough to load/run software and I learned to write my own. I have a similar story, but more from necessity; for the first few months while our dad saved up money to buy a tape drive (something he didn't know was sort of necessary when he made the initial purchase), the machine just sat there at the interpreter prompt. Luckily the reference guide and various magazines of the time had examples we could type in. That became the routine - you want to play a game, first you have to type it up. In retrospect, it's actually quite amazing how good a teacher necessity can be.

patrickdavey 8y ago

That's a really lovely story, thanks for sharing it. Wish I could upvote twice :)

52-6F-62 8y ago

You were very lucky in more ways than the one. That's a great story, though. Those kinds of memories and meaning in your work are priceless. My father was overworking most of the time due to his career as a pipefitter for Imperial Oil. He spent two terms unemployed— once when we moved to our small SW Ontario town (long story why), and another during an illness that lasted about a year. Because my mother had left her career in insurance to look after us, our college savings were depleted (the last thing they touched to make payments). I don't remember the times he was unemployed very much. Much of my family was ill at the same time he was and I spent a lot of time looking after them (with my thoroughly tough mother)— otherwise he was driving an 2-3 hours round-trip to the union hall every day to try and find contract work. So I didn't see much of the guy when I was young, and when I did he was exhausted and often cranky. There were some great moments in there, and he still taught me as much as he could while I was there, but I'm just remarking on the work and unemployment and family time thing. Funnily, I got into programming because my mother had an [name I don't remember] 80286 from her work as an insurance analyst and I dug right into that machine. Then the internet finally came to town... .. Really, thanks for sharing that.

philipkglass 8y ago
You were very lucky in more ways than the one. Most definitely. I get a bit of existential vertigo when I think about how much of my often-happy life has depended on luck. It intensifies when I consider how many of those lucky circumstances were determined before my birth.
- 52-6F-62 8y ago
  Existential vertigo— I’m going to have to remember that term
  - iagreewithyou 8y ago
    Same here - I've been trying unsuccessfully to put that feeling into words for 20 years!

danielbarla 8y ago

> They learned just enough to load/run software and I learned to write my own. I have a similar story, but more from necessity; for the first few months while our dad saved up money to buy a tape drive (something he didn't know was sort of necessary when he made the initial purchase), the machine just sat there at the interpreter prompt. Luckily the reference guide and various magazines of the time had examples we could type in. That became the routine - you want to play a game, first you have to type it up. In retrospect, it's actually quite amazing how good a teacher necessity can be.