Some history of a bad day in history

I thought I'd write this now before I feel even worse, but it's 
something I need to write down.  In just over a weeks' time, it is the 
anniversary of a day which has influenced my entire life.  31 years ago, 
on the day that my mother found out she was pregnant with me, thanks to 
a drunk motorcycle rider, my dad died on his way home from work early to 
be with my mum on that special day for them both. I know this day as 
Daddy Dead day, to try and get my head in a coping place with it. This 
has influenced my entire life, as obviously I never knew him, but 
apparently, my dad would have been so proud of what I do/have done...
 
My Dad is the reason why I am so pro trade union, even if they are cunts 
at times.  My Dad was a member of a Union, called the EETPU (with a cunt 
of a general secretary called Eric Hammond in the years after my dad 
died.)  The EEPTU is known in trade union circles as a Scab Union, the 
Union who helped Murdoch to defeat the printers during the battle of 
Wapping and were later kicked out of the TUC.  They have this bad 
history, but that doesn't matter because what they did proved to me the 
strength of working class people working together...
 
The EEPTU paid for a barrister to represent our family at my dad's 
inquest and even though it was not work related, they set up a trust 
fund each for me and my sister which we were able to access when we 
turned 18 (I bought my first ever computer with this money). They also 
paid off my mum and my dads mortgage, so that my mum didn't have any 
worries about this at all.  One of my first memories is of my mum 
telling me during the miners strike, to ignore what the news was saying 
about the unions, that they had done everything possible for our family 
and made it so we were secure...
 
My dad was completely self taught, he dropped out of school at 12 
because he and his family couldn't afford not to and all his brothers 
and sisters had to do the same. He worked up through the ranks working 
as a concrete layer on the Trent Valley power stations - building the 
cooling towers for them all, and became a "maths genius" - his twins 
words not mine.  He became a union convener in his workplace and led a 
few strikes on health & safety grounds, all the while doing night school 
classes to try and improve himself academically, spending a lot of time 
in libraries to build up his general knowledge.
 
After he died, my immediate family lost contact with most of my dad's 
side of the family, apart from his twin David and his four kids.  The 
first time I met most of them was 7 years ago, when we were told about 
the funeral of my dad's older sister. Me and my sister turned up, and 
when we walked in hundreds of faces looked at us, and whispers ran round 
the crematorium "that's ******s kids, it has to be, look at the nose".
 
After twenty minutes or so of this, luckily 2 of the cousins we actually 
knew, came and sort of rescued us by introducing us fully.  Every single 
one of them asked what we were doing with ourselves, if we'd gone to 
uni, etc etc, and when I told them what degree I'd done, and the fact 
that I was a very active trade union rep (was 5 months before I got my 
current job), tears were flowing and "if your dad could see you now, 
he'd be so fucking proud of you." I have kept in touch with this side of 
the family since then, and have learned things about my dad's youth that 
I had never heard before, and there are just so many scary similarities 
between us.
 
I don't know if there is a heaven or hell, or what happens after we die, 
but, no matter what, I just hope that what the family say is true, that 
my dad is proud of me.  This is one of the few things that keeps me 
going through my darkest days, this thought, to know that I may have 
lived up to unmentioned expectations that he had in the few hours that 
he knew he was going to have a son. This is the reason that this time of 
year means so fucking much to me, and the reason why, no matter what, I 
still think that trade unions are one of the best things to ever happen 
in this country and we need to support them however we can (within 
reason...)