3 - GJN

3 - GJN

Yesterday was rough. I've been feeling sick so stayed home from work. I decided to allow my physical, emotional and energetic body relax for a day as opposed to pushing forward with my regimented 108 days of writing. I wanted soooo badly to be able to just write every single day but the truth is... I need to honor my body as it's my temple. When it tells me to stop and take care of itself, I must listen. So here I am back to writing. For some reason writing about my dad seems to be harder for me than my birth mom and mom. Perhaps this is due to the fact that my dad is a man of simplicity. What you see, is what you get. He is undoubtedly a man of high integrity. Where do I start? 

My dad was born into a very special family of 8. He is the 2nd oldest and 1 of 4 boys.  He grew up on a small farm in norther Minnesota. My dad was always special, and people saw that. He was different than his siblings. Sensitive. Brilliant. Mature. At a young age, a man whom my dad met at church saw this twinkle in my dads soul. His name was "doc" Franklin. The local MD who delivered my dad, my mom and just about every single baby born within a 60 mile radius of norther Minnesota. It was during this time my dad would shadow Dr. Franklin when he would be doing his rounds with patients. A young boy with a mentor who was willing to take him to work. So lucky. This is the time he first met my mom. Little did they know years to come they would one day marry and have me! As dad grew, dr. Franklin saw that their small town high school wasn't going to cut it for me dads intellect... so Doc paid for my dad to attend Maple Grove Academy down in southern MN. He would live in campus and come back during the summer months. He would be the only Nyberg to be sponsored by the Franklin family. During his first year, my dad was elected homecoming KING. Not court, KING. He kept this title all four years of attending the academy. He was also president of their electronics club and was a master watchmaker. He is a natural poet and a few of his poems were published. He was passionate about education and good at it!

My dad went on to attend college at Bemidji State. This is where he "met" my mom. I'm not certain of their initial meeting but I do know, my dad didn't treat my mom all that well their first go around. He was young, handsome, a jock, and 20... we will just leave it at that. As he matured my dad realized his soul mate was indeed my mom. He tried and tried to win my mom back but she stayed strong and refused, until one day when she received a poem from him in the mail. From there it was game over for SLN and GJN. 

What I can absolutely respect and love about my dad is that he knowingly, married a woman who had an autoimmune disease (which he knew all about since meeting her when they were children in the hospital) which deprived her of her hair and left her with battle wounds all over her body, as well as all the symptoms that are associated with her disease. He also walked into their marriage, knowing, she could never carry her own child... he too desired to be a father. But he had faith. Faith in god. Faith in himself. Faith in my mom. He stood by her side as she anxiously yearned for a baby. He never blinked an eye when every moment together was of her talking about becoming a mom. He didn't question her when she hurt deeply after their first baby was taken away. He stood strong and supported her through it all. And there's been a lot. 

My first memories are of my dad and I. My mom was always busy working and in my early years my dad was going back to engineering school. I remember crying my eyes out every morning when my mom would leave for work... only to go lay in bed with my dad as he comforted me. I had a fierce temper as a child and lots of abandonment issues. So hugs and snuggling where everything to me. I remember riding with him every morning on the way to daycare. I was too short to see anything but the tops of the trees as we drove. The truck would smell of coffee and cigarettes... I loved the way they smelt when my dad smoked them. We would listen to "Paul Harvey News & Comment" every morning. I would ask dad questions about the news. He would answer. He was the best dad to have for an overly curious little girl. My dad used to take me up flying with him in his airplane when I was little. He would practice stalls with me in the backseat of the Cesna! He would cross country ski with me hanging out of his old army backpack. He was the one to teach me to ski. He was the one who got me interested in nature and exploring the world... through National Geographic magazine. Every month we would page through together. I would ask questions and he would answer. He read to me, every single night until I was in 7th grade. We read every single "Adventures in Babysitting Club", "Sweet Valley Twins", and many other books together. My all time favorite was a National Geographic book about the moon. He never let on if he was annoyed at me for always wanting to read that very book. We would drive at night with the car lights off under the full moon. I would go to work with him in the "put-put" car (which was the one man rail car that slowly rode the tracks inspecting... he called it the put-put because it moved that slow). He would drive me down abandoned rail tracks at night with our lights off to show me the stars. He helped me every night with schoolwork. 

To say I had a magical childhood and dad is an understatement. I am so lucky and thankful for my birth mother to carry me so I could be reunited with both my parents. I wouldn't be who I am today without all those beautiful memories with my dad. 

To this day we continue on with our amazing adventures. My dad still works, hard. He supports my mom in every single way... even when she's being, well... mom. He supports me. Doesn't judge me or hurt me. He cries during mushy tv commercials. He doesn't complain when we go shopping and drag him along (he just reads his books). He's the first to hit happy hour with me. And one of my greatest teachers in life, ever.