Happy Father’s Day to all the dads, granddads, and father-figures out there! To mark the day, I’m sharing some of the nuggets of wisdom my dad proclaimed over the years. I hope they make you smile.

Welcome to the 69^th edition of The Sunday Spark, a series with weekly thoughts and highlights, nuggets of learning, and a decluttering challenge for the week. In addition to Dad’s wisdom, this week’s edition looks at Indigenous languages in Canada, bank investment in fossil fuels, and decluttering the front entranceway.

On my mind this week: Nuggets of wisdom from dad

My dad, Brian Oram, passed away 23 years ago when my daughter Laura was just a baby. He never met our younger daughter, Colleen, who was born two years after he died.

Since starting my blog, I’ve written quite a lot about things I’ve learned from my mum, but I haven’t written much about my dad. Maybe it’s because he’s no longer with us and, no matter how hard we try to remember, memories do fade over time. That’s why it’s so important to share and record our stories. So, in honour of Father’s Day, I decided it was time to do that.

About my dad

My dad was an interesting character. He was definitely a people person with a big heart. He also was trustworthy and honest—sometimes to a fault.

At his funeral, one of his friends told me a story that made me smile because it spoke to my dad’s honest and trustworthy character.

One day on their travels, my dad and his friend ran into a young woman with a baby. I don’t recall all the details of the story but this woman, who my dad had never met before, asked my dad if he would watch the baby for a few minutes while she ran an errand. Being the kindhearted person that he was, of course dad said yes. My dad’s friend said he couldn’t believe the two of them were standing on the street with a stranger’s baby. The woman returned a few minutes later, and they all carried on with their day.

I can’t imagine leaving my baby with someone I don’t know—even 40 years ago when that story took place. There must have been something about my dad that made this lady believe she could trust him. That was Dad!

Nuggets of wisdom from dad

My dad was a salesman, so he definitely had the gift of the gab. And despite living in Canada for 30 years before his death, he never lost his broad Lancashire accent. He had many expressions that I often think of, and I always hear them in that Lancashire brogue.

To celebrate Father’s Day, here are a few nuggets of wisdom I learned from my dad.

“Half a cake is better than no cake at all.”

This was my dad’s version of “A bird in the hand is worth two in the bush.” It was his way of warning me not to be greedy and to avoid taking on too much risk—especially when it comes to investing my money. Dad would never have invested in the stock market—he was satisfied with the “half a cake” he got from investing in GICs (CDs). Mind you, he lived in an era of double-digit interest rates. What would he have thought of those safe investments paying less than one percent interest?  

“Kick one and we all limp.”

Dad was a big believer in family. This expression was about loyalty and the importance of sticking together and supporting each other.

On a similar note, he’d often say, “If they’re bugging me, they’re leaving someone else alone.” when we would tease him about things.

“Kindness costs nothing.”

This one is definitely my favourite and it’s something I often say myself. As the baby-watching story illustrates, my dad had a kind heart. I often wonder what he’d think of the state of the world today. Kindness is definitely a rare commodity.

Happy heavenly Father’s Day, Dad! I hope you’re enjoying a game of cards and a few Wildcats with Auntie Joan today. I’m sure you’re keeping the angels entertained with your stories. I just hope they understand “Lancashire”.

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Three highlights of the week

It’s important to celebrate big milestones and simple pleasures in life. Keeping the trend going, here are three highlights and simple pleasures of the week gone by:

• I got 98% on the Plain Language in Health Literacy course I just wrapped up.
• My co-workers bought me the most awesome retirement gift—a new turntable and gift cards to go record shopping. They know me well.
• On Monday, I was interviewed by the Canadian Affairs publication on the changing nature of retirement. You can read the article on their website: The changing nature of retirement—and what it means for companies and retirees 

Things I learned this week

Life is all about learning. Here are a couple of things I learned this week:

Indigenous languages in Canada

June 21 is National Indigenous Peoples Day in Canada—a day to celebrate the history, heritage, culture and resiliency of our First Nations, Inuit and Métis people.

One of the saddest things about the colonization of the western world is how the white settlers tried to erase all aspects Indigenous culture, including the language. It didn’t work! I was surprised to learn this week that there are more than 70 Indigenous languages reported in Canada’s 2016 census.  

(Source: Happy Eco News)

Banking and climate change

How does your bank stack up when it comes to financing fossil fuels?

Three of Canada’s five big banks: RBC, TD and Scotiabank rank in the top 10 in the world in terms of fossil fuel investments. Considering the relative size of Canada’s economy, that’s startling! American banks JP Morgan Chase and Citibank have the dubious honour of topping the list.

(Source: Banking on Climate Chaos 2021)

This week’s decluttering challenge – Front entranceway

In 2024, I’ve been revisiting the 52-Week Decluttering Challenge I completed in 2021. This week’s challenge was the front entranceway. In total, I decluttered 5 items. You can find the details, along with my tips and learnings, in this week’s decluttering post.

If you’d like to join the challenge, visit this post to download your free checklists and jump right in with this week’s task.

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I’d love to hear what you think about any of this week’s topics. Drop me a comment below and let me know your thoughts and ideas.