My children\u2019s grandfather\u2019s had wide differences and shared one incredible irony.<\/p>\n
So, there were some differences.\u00a0 During the 70\u2019s my Dad was a faithful Christian pastor living on a small farm in rural Saskatchewan.\u00a0 During the same time my Father-in-law was a Laos Buddhist living in a country reeling from war after war fighting for his very existence.<\/p>\n
Unfortunately, I don\u2019t know either of them well enough to say if they had much in common.\u00a0 I would like to think that they would have gotten along.\u00a0 And I\u2019m sad that they did not get the chance.<\/p>\n
But the one irony that they do share is in their major difference.\u00a0 As I stated in the beginning my Dad lived in probably one of the safest places on earth; outside of a small Saskatchewan farming town where there had never been a known murder.\u00a0 The most dangerous activity he was involved in was operating farm equipment.\u00a0 He had no known association with any dangerous persons.\u00a0 And yet he was killed in a home invasion by an escaped convict.\u00a0 He was shot with his Dad\u2019s gun.\u00a0 He died.<\/p>\n
My Father-in-law on the other hand was living in Laos.\u00a0 In the 70\u2019s he was a medic in the army fighting the Communists in a civil war.\u00a0 He was thought to be dead many times by his family.\u00a0 At one point after most of his group was dead he and one other soldier lived in the jungle for several weeks hiding during the day and walking through the sleeping enemy at night.\u00a0 He had guns pointed at him, triggers pulled only to have the guns jam.\u00a0 My Father-in-law survived beyond explanation.\u00a0 He swam across the Mekong River with soldiers holding machine guns in towers while search lights panned the river. \u00a0He lived.<\/p>\n
When my husband and I really talked it through and discovered this extreme irony we were amazed.\u00a0 I know that these extremes exist in everyday life.\u00a0 There are many people that would have similar stories, especially in my father-in-laws case.\u00a0 But, what are the chances that the children of these 2 men would meet and marry? \u00a0I find it amazing.\u00a0 Sometimes our histories seem to become very heavy in our house.\u00a0 It has sometimes felt too much to have both of these stories collide in one house.\u00a0 But the incredible family history we have between us for our children is truly amazing.<\/p>\n
All I know is that I\u2019m not God and I don\u2019t know all of the intricacies and other paths that could have been taken, but to me it looks like for Pasith and I to be together and our children to be born my Dad had to die and his Dad had to live.\u00a0 All of those guns jamming and sleeping soldiers.\u00a0 The decision of Randy Mirwault on which direction he would leave Moosomin and which house they would stop at.\u00a0 I only traveled four hours to the East to meet up with Pasith.\u00a0 He had to come halfway around the world.<\/p>\n
There are many reasons why I am fascinated by history in my own family and the world in general.\u00a0 But this much \u201cstory\u201d in our little family just puts it in a whole new category.\u00a0 I am extremely proud to pass this history on.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
My children\u2019s grandfather\u2019s had wide differences and shared one incredible irony. So, there were some differences.\u00a0 During the 70\u2019s my Dad was a faithful Christian pastor living on a small farm in rural Saskatchewan.\u00a0 During the same time my Father-in-law … Continue reading