What praise has meant the most to you?--Al

-- Al Schroeder (al.schroeder@nashville.com), May 05, 2000

Answers

A company dinner to celebrate my return from a successful overseas contractural tour of duty. The brass were super, and didn't lay it on too thick. We had steaks (plural) several different kinds of beer, all kinds of little muchies. I gave a short talk, and a slide show. The rest of the evening was visiting, reminiscing over some of the wild episodes of hazardous testing during various R & D programs. I wish I could remember all that was said that evening, it could have made an amusing small book, sort of on the order of "Murphy's Law Conquers All.

-- Denver doug (ionoi@webtv.net), May 06, 2000.

My father showed his love by spending time with me, not by praising me. Most of the things he said to me were, frankly, in the nature of correction. It really wasn't until I was in my twenties, looking back, that I realized what it meant that he chose to spend every free evening and weekend of his life with me and my brother, hiking, skiing, swimming, and that when we worked in the yard, he always came out to work with us. When I was in high shcool, I really thought he disapproved of me.

One night in my senior year of high schol, I asked permission to go away overnight on a camping trip with two friends of mine. It was the first time I ever had the chance to be out of the house all night unsupervised. I remember my mother was opposed to the idea. I overheard my parents talking about it in the evening, and I was surprised to hear my father support my taking the trip. He told my mother that it was only a few months until I would be in college anyway and sleeping away from home unsupervised all of the time, "and besides, Irene, he's the most responsible teenager in the state!"

That's one of my favorite memories of my father.

-- Tom Dean (tsd@ogk.com), May 06, 2000.

One time, I banged my head on a cement post, but nobody praised me.

-- Dave Van (davevan01@hotmail.com), May 10, 2000.