The recent Nambour show is a constant reminder to me about parenting and relationships with your kids, family and friends.
It highlights what is actually important in life and what is not worth worrying about.
I say this because the Saturday night of the show in 1984 was the night my dad died.
HL (Len) Robinson was driving my mum Edna to bingo at Yandina. It was pouring rain and as they passed the showgrounds, he said: “I feel sorry for those sideshow people in this weather.”
He sighed and dropped dead at the wheel. It was a miracle mum never got hurt as the car crossed the road and hit an embankment.
One of dad’s mates rang me and told me to get to the hospital. I instantly knew things were bad.
Now, here is the lesson learnt that night that still sits with me. As I drove up to Nambour, all I could think about was the things I hadn’t said to my dad that I should have and all things I shouldn’t have said.
I am not going to carry on with readers about how wonderful dad was. What I am going to share with you is what both of us could have done better, with most of it being at my end.
My only criticism of my hard-working dad was that he never shared his feelings with me … well, apart from when I annoyed him, which was regularly. We never shared any other emotions.
I cannot remember the last conversation I had with him, and I certainly can’t remember any intimate ones we had.
He was quite critical of me. And I must say, he had plenty to work with.
I never really knew what he thought of me except the one time I had to go to court, and he had written the lawyer a letter about what type of son I was.
When the lawyer read it out, I wondered who he was talking about and who wrote it.
I don’t know whether I ever thanked him for everything he did for me – probably my biggest regret.
I took a lot and never gave much back. But my shortcomings, and probably his as well, have definitely made me a better person than I was in 1984.
The moral of the story is, don’t let things go unsaid and don’t hide your love for your family or friends and you may escape from a quote that I live with: “Time doesn’t heal all wounds. It reveals the truth. The healing occurs with intention.”
Ashley Robinson is chairman of Sunshine Coast Falcons and Sunshine Coast Thunder Netball and a lifetime Sunshine Coast resident. The opinions expressed are those of the author. These are not the views of Sunshine Coast News publishers.
