an old cynic's view

By superhero

Meet the original old cynic and Katie

This is Douglas,my 91 year old Dad, and if you think I am cynical its all his fault ha ha.
He was born in Dundee 1919 and won a bursary for Harris Academy when he was 12. Harris Academy was a fee paying school at the time and as our family was not exactly well off it was quite an achievement.
He was the youngest of 3 girls and 3 boys and is the only surviving member.
In 1939 at the outbreak of the war he and thousands of other young men were sent for medicals for the army,and luckily for him they said he was not fit for duty due to a heart defect.
He was sent to train to become a fitter to work in Dumbarton here where he met my dear Mother who died of cancer 21 years ago.
They were duly married 1945 and my sister and I were eventually introduced to this big bad world.
But fate is a strange thing, lets go back to the enlistment for the army at which my Dad was turned down.
About 20 years ago he was invited to the health centre for a well man test for the over 70s and was given the full treatment Cardiology,Diabetes,Mental checks for early signs of Dementia, the whole rigmarol.
Guess what he passed with flying colours so he asked the cardiologist about the heart defect and his reply shocked my Dad.
His reply was you do not have anything wrong with your heart and in fact you never have, you have a perfect heart for your age.
Well it came as a bit of a shock to my Dad and the first thing he thought about was that they had mixed up the medicals at the enlistment and some poor soul was sent to the front line with a heart problem.
What if my Dad had gone to war, he would never have met my Mother,they wouldn't have got married ,my sister and I would not be here , our children would not be here 5 granchildren and 6 great grandchildren would not be here.
Aye fate sure is fickle!!!!
Campbell

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