It's an honor

Reflecting on Fathers and Forefathers


I count my blessings that I have a wonderful father.

Dad and his father before him were skilled craftsmen, builders, and entrepreneurial in spirit. They worked the land on my great-grandfather's farm in rural Ontario, Canada, and both established small businesses to earn an honest living and served their community with their skills.

Their beliefs, principles, and values helped shape who I am, influenced choices I've made and paths I've taken, and helped me recognize the things in my life that matter most.

My father is incredibly kind, faithful and insightful. He has abundant patience, evident when he didn't flinch after I, a rookie young driver, showed him the distorted bumper on our family car.  He could fix most things and I'll forever remember him looking through his eyeglasses, calculating, pondering, with some tool or another in his hand ready to take on a task. He is dedicated to his faith, his wife, and family, and to his community. He's disciplined and regimented - evident in the way he takes good care of himself, diligently doing exercises after recovering from a broken hip, or being sure he eats a good breakfast every day - the same breakfast he has eaten for decades - raisin bran with milk, and toast with honey (I'm not kidding).

We all have a heritage, whether it be biological or adoptive, inherited or chosen.  We're all shaped by experiences and relationships, they inform who we are and why we choose the paths we do.

Pause for a while this weekend, remember and celebrate the father who has helped shape your life.

Happy Father's Day, Dad, and thanks. I love you.

 
 

From left to right, my great-grandfather, Frederick Sr., my grandfather Frederick Jr. (when he and I were fishing together at 6 am one morning), and my Dad, Robert Otterman

gratitude + love = pure joy

THEIR EXPRESSION OF GRATITUDE IS LIKE NOTHING YOU COULD IMAGINE...

It was powerful and overwhelming, and it was a trip that will be forever etched in my heart.

In May 2015, I was honored to travel to the Netherlands with my father, then a 90-year-old WWII Canadian veteran. We were invited there to celebrate the 70th anniversary of their liberation, and I experienced firsthand what it is like to be immersed in the kindness and gratitude of the Dutch. They value their freedom, and they feel it is their duty to thank the people who fought for it.

In 1945, my father was witness to the horrific impact war had on the people of the Netherlands. He was there at the end of the war and also experienced the jubilation of their freedom. During his subsequent trips back, and also in 2015, seeing survivors and their families and children celebrating in the streets, brought him much joy and brought me to tears.  

It also made me realize I needed to create a body of work inspired by those emotions. 

The piece above is comprised of photographs I took on that trip in 2015.  It is intended to recognize the continuation of generations and pay tribute to those children who did not survive the war. My father was keen to shake the hand of this young girl in the crowd at a parade in the city of Apeldoorn. The cherubic image at the top left (a photo of a bronze sculpture also taken while there) represents those children who lost their lives and are viewing the exchange between soldier and survivor's family. 

The things we experience in life have so much meaning. When we take the time to preserve those moments, especially the moments that land in our soul, they can be enjoyed generation after generation.

Preserve what matters most.

 
 

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