Mellow Milestones

Dean Owen

7年前 · 2分钟。阅读时间 · ~10 ·

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Mellow Milestones

Dear Jenny, Nathalie and Little Ashley,

One day I hoped you would stumble across this, whether by chance or out of curiosity. For me, I left it too late - too late to ask the questions I so desperately wanted to ask. Kids often don’t think to ask, blinded by the perception that our parents are invincible. I felt I couldn’t ask. He was such a private man. I recollect the sheer joy I got from reading my father’s words when curiosity could no longer be contained. There was not much to read. A book your grandfather wrote that I managed to buy on Amazon. I was so chuffed to find his book I snapped up all the three battered and dusty copies I found. The words were of a man I hardly knew, written before even I was born. His stories engulfed me.

It may be tomorrow, it may be years from now, but I hope that, for whatever reason, you discover this body of work. These are my stories. And this particular piece marks my 100th article here on beBee.com. By the time your curiosity is peaked enough to type the letters Dean Owen in a search bar, the internet may well have been freed from the confines of things we called desktops. You might even be listening to this being read by a droid. It won’t have my accent, but hopefully it will have a friendly voice.

So here are the first hundred.

I started writing for beBee the very first day they launched this publishing platform. Back in April it was. You will not get a complete picture of me, but enough of a picture to understand that dads are not just dads.

I have written on all sorts of subjects. One of my favourites was In Love with Benito, a story about the final days of a mistress of a fascist dictator. In Letters from Manila, I wrote a suicide note from a young pilot to his father on the eve of a one-way mission. The Day I Shot a Tiger and An Interview with a Turtle were fun articles based on trips I took, but with an important message that I feel strongly about. I do hope you enjoy them. I got a bit silly when writing Wanted– Mad Scientist to help me win The Nobel Prize! and Mating Rituals – Homo Sapiens. But hey, Dads can be silly believe it or not. In The Girl that broke my Hand and A Single Breath of Air, you’ll get a glimpse of me before I met you guys. And, well, The Man behind the Father, that was for you.

One of the things that kept me writing was the tremendous support I got from the beBee community. I did not count on having a present day audience, but by golly am I grateful for it. Do read the comments down below each article. They are from people I am truly blessed to have met here. Many of them have blogs just as I have. Click on their names and check out their blogs too! These are my generation. Not too different from yours…

I will continue to write, and hope for another hundo in 2017, but I am here, and anytime you feel curious, talk to me. I know I was not always there for you. But I am here now. I am so proud of you all. Jenny and Nathalie, as you enter adulthood, just remember not to take life too seriously. Little Ashley, I know it will be a while before you read this, but take your time. Don’t grow up too fast Princess Fanpy!

Dad

#Dear Jenny #Little Ashley #Amazon #Nathalie #Mellow Milestones

Dean Owen

7年前 #38

#45
I can't imagine how proud your future grandchildren will be when they discover your prose for themselves.

Javier Cámara-Rica 🐝🇪🇸

7年前 #37

thanks Paul \ too !

Javier Cámara-Rica 🐝🇪🇸

7年前 #36

thanks Gert Scholtz for engaging with this great buzz !

Javier Cámara-Rica 🐝🇪🇸

7年前 #35

thanks Donna-Luisa Eversley for engaging with this greatbuzz !!!

Dean Owen

7年前 #34

I doubt even the smartest AI could duplicate my warped British accent that has been mangled by life in Asia.

Lyon Brave

7年前 #33

Maybe it will have your accent. You never know.

Javier Cámara-Rica 🐝🇪🇸

7年前 #32

Dean Owen Happy New Year ! best wishes from Madrid

Ken Boddie

7年前 #31

#39
mine don't stalk mine, Dean-San, that's for sure. They're too busy on frivolous other SM activities.

Lisa Gallagher

7年前 #30

#37
Welcome back and so, your not perfect? We all have things to work on, good to acknowledge and make changes right. And, we all been fools at times, myself included. Hope you had a nice Holiday! Happy NY!

Dean Owen

7年前 #29

#33
I second you on the stings Ken-san. I do hope that if and when they discover the writings here, they will check to your blog too (are you listening J, N, & A?) as for one, I would surely encourage them to possibly make a move to Australia to experience living in a country that I may not get a chance to live, but a country that should be tops on anyones list. Do you think the kids do stalk our blogs?

Dean Owen

7年前 #28

#32
Oh and thanks for the shares on Twitter etc. After a week off social media I was dumbfounded to have gotten hundreds of notifications on Twitter thanks to you, Lance, and Paul C.

Dean Owen

7年前 #27

#32
Thanks Lisa. Didn't mean this to be a tear jerker. Not such a wonderful man, but I do have time to rectify my past foolishness.

Dean Owen

7年前 #26

#30
I'd happily live anywhere in India knowing that the countryside is just a short train ride away. Apologies for the late response. Took a bit of a beBee break, but am back now and wanting to learn more about the world!

Ken Boddie

7年前 #25

#26
It is truly incredible, Deb \ud83d\udc1d Helfrich.

Ken Boddie

7年前 #24

Another informative buzz from the beBee Master of Tales, and to think that I again almost missed a buzz from one of my favourite bees (FBee). I am getting impatient to have the 'Sting' up and running from beBee IT Developments, since we appear to have been promised, for some time now, the reported capability for us to be informed when our FBees publish. I love this moving epistle to your family, Dean-san, and must admit to having done something similar by way of a parallel exercise. I have been documenting all my buzzes (only 54 in my case this year) in both hard and electronic version (outside my beBee Producer Profile) so that my kids may have a better understanding of the wheels that drive this chameleon to write, after I'm kicking up the daisies, or sooner, should they choose to do so. My family is much older than yours, Dean, so I have chosen to copy an occasional more pertinent buzz to them, on the hoof. I have, however, also been documenting many of the comments and interactions I have had with other bees and suggest that you may consider doing likewise. As I am sure you agree, sometimes the comments and on-line discussion we have with other bees following their buzzes, are also indicators of character, both ours and theirs. May your words continue to flow for as long as you wish to entertain and inspire others ..... and ..... May the quill be with you!

Lisa Gallagher

7年前 #23

Big congrats on your 100th buzz Dean Owen. Ok, I'm going to admit, this really had me tear jerked! What a beautiful legacy to leave for your daughters. Those of us that have read your words (buzzes) can attest just how proud Daddy is of all three daughters. This is beautiful Dean and a testament to the wonderful man you are. I look forward to reading many more buzzes and reading about many more journeys too!

Dean Owen

7年前 #22

#26
Your comment sums up the power of beBee! Wish you a glorious holiday season Deb \ud83d\udc1d Helfrich

Dean Owen

7年前 #21

#25
Wish you and the family well Gert Scholtz. Will be opening a bottle of Bellingham Bernard Series Old Vine today for a pre-Christmas celebration. Those SA whites go great with turkey.

Dean Owen

7年前 #20

#24
Praveen Raj Gullepalli, right now I wish I was in India. The pollution business got real bad this week. Much rather be feasting over a biryani with you than turkey in this haze.

Gert Scholtz

7年前 #19

Dean Owen Congratulations on your century! My favourite article - the one on street musicians - with all your travelogues a very close second. You are an inspiration - I look forward to a double century.

Dean Owen

7年前 #18

#20
Thank you Javier. Just getting started.

Javier Cámara-Rica 🐝🇪🇸

7年前 #17

CC Juan Imaz

Javier Cámara-Rica 🐝🇪🇸

7年前 #16

100 buzzes !! congratulation Dean Owen. THANKS A LOT FOR BEING PART OF THIS DREAM

Dean Owen

7年前 #15

#16
Once again you provide a veritable feast for thought. At one stage in the early days I built my own websites and filled them with content that has all but disappeared. I have thought about a potential for our present day content to be eradicated for whatever reason so I have everything on a Seagate backup drive which will be passed on in the event that.... Another thing I was pondering was that we often hear that we should be careful with our online footprint as it is visible to potential employers, but I never hear that we should also care about our online footprint as our children will also most likely see what we write. I do like the cricket references. I pondered using Century in the title, but figured most people would associate Century with 100 years and not runs (not out)! Thanks CityVP Manjit.

CityVP Manjit

7年前 #14

As for the 100th Buzz - tonne up ! Lift your bat and continue the Sobers. Those who don't understand that and think I am telling Dean Owen to stop drinking will have totally been stumped by my expression because they don't know what a hundred not out is and nor will they think like Gary or can ever get remotely close to having their own metaphorical six for six.

CityVP Manjit

7年前 #13

As for the 100th Buzz - tonne up ! Lift your bat and continue the Sobers. Those who don't understand that and think I am telling Dean Owen to stop drinking will have totally been stumped by my expression because they don't know what a hundred not out and nor do they think like Gary or will ever get remotely close to having their own metaphorical six for six.

CityVP Manjit

7年前 #12

When Viktor Mayer-Schönberger wrote "Delete" he talked about the phenomenon of perfect remembering in the digital age and endorsed the virtue of forgetting. I have been online since 1998 and I don't know if the current state of technology exhibits "perfect remembering" because when I look back at what I have written and documented as written, to what is available online, I would say that as much as 85% of that no longer exists online due to technology/platform/system upgrades and technological obsolescence. Whether modern cloud computing is perfect remembering remains to be seen, but I do share the sensibility that one day my kids and grand-kids will find what their old man wrote or how he thought and that is a new kind of digital legacy, which does have much value to it - for it already tells us the kind of dimension that we look at the world - we both have two legs in the present and two visual parts at the back of our brains always several decades ahead. The similarities here are quite resonant. I will never truly know how a huge missing piece of my life would have affected me because it did not happen to me, but I can begin to appreciate the magnitude of that thirst to piece together that which was denied to us by life's circumstances, and at the same time build on that to ensure the next generation never has to endure a similiar vacuum. That desire for completeness ironically is there because of the father that was not. The note to Jenny, Nathalie and Little Ashley becomes that much more poignant due to that experience. It is then strange to think that which contributed to one's most lost experiences is contributing to one's most found experiences - and then I say to the senior and late Mr Owen, thank you for making Dean Owen a brilliant father - and then life makes that much more sense for the generation lost has become the generation found.

Dean Owen

7年前 #11

#12
Don't we all wish we knew more about our grandparents/parents? No time to waste Anna Magnus, just start typing away! Looking forward to your first Producer buzz! Thanks for stopping by and for the kind words.

Dean Owen

7年前 #10

#11
I must say it's great to see you back here. Hope all is well with you and family.

Dean Owen

7年前 #9

#10
Hopefully... and just like your two boys will too! Great feeling.

Anna Magnus

7年前 #8

Thank you @Dean Owen. l am inspired to soon try my hand . I have been wanting to write and I think it's getting close . Your message is true and important . Maybe not today but one day our children should have a bigger insight to their blood

Laurent Boscherini

7年前 #7

Thank you Dean Owen for sharing your amazing 100th post ! That means a lot with such consistency and faith, beyond your insightful writing. Congratulation ;)

don kerr

7年前 #6

Someday your kids will revel in Dad's treasure trove Dean Owen

Dean Owen

7年前 #5

#6
Thanks Sushmita. Sometimes our perceptions of reserved fathers are warranted, but often unfounded. Do talk with your father on every subject you can think of. He may push back sometimes, but be persistent. I would love to know how my parents first met and things like that.

Dean Owen

7年前 #4

#5
Thanks Irene Hackett, it's been a blast. Will make a subtle shift to more video next year. Got me a drone for Christmas so should be able to capture some spectacular aerial footage.

Dean Owen

7年前 #3

#2
From what I have read, clearly you are not a regular guy Pascal. I am slowly being influenced by you to shake off my orange tinted glasses and take a dose of reality. Hey, you must be on 100 too no? Or fast approaching...

Dean Owen

7年前 #2

#1
Are we not the luckiest!? Took me a while to realise though.

Pascal Derrien

7年前 #1

I was indeed thinking about this again this morning I was kind of thinking about bringing all the articles I have made together and call them ''The Chronicles of A Regular Guy'' not so much for me but for my kids too as at least they could see we asked and maybe they will realize we tried maybe they will think we should have tried harder... but who knows we will be there maybe by the time you have reached 200 :-) Dean Owen

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