My Aunt sent me a link to my cousin's blog in which she had posted a remembrance of the people in my family who have served in the Armed Forces. My Father was one of these men.
This has caused me to reflect on some things. My father died from Cancer when he was 37 in 1979 (I was 10). I am now nearly 40 and next December will mark 30 years since the passing of my Father. Thirty years!
I have often found myself wondering how my life might have been different had he lived. Honestly, I never really got to know him very well. He was in the Navy and been stationed aboard ship since I was 5 or 6, he was discharged when I was 9 or 10, and shortly afterward, he passed from his illness. Without a doubt, his was a life cut far too short.
I am curious about what he would think of how I have turned out. Would he be proud of me? What would he think of the choices (both good and bad) that I have made? Would we have had a close relationship or would it have been a distant one? What would he say about my current situation and the way I have handled it? Is it strange to wonder about the approval of someone who has been gone for nearly three decades? Someone I really didn't know and of whom I have very few clear memories? Is it just a reflection of my own need for validation of myself as a person, as a son, and as a man? I don't know.
I guess I'd like to think he's looking down at me and saying "That's my boy!".
On a semi-related note; thank you to all of the men and women in our Armed Services, past and present, for the sacrifices you have made to make America, regardless of how flawed we may be, the very best place in the world to live.
There is no doubt in my mind that he would be VERY PROUD of you and how you have turned out. You are the spitting image of your dad even some of your mannerisms are exactly like his. I like you, often wonder how his life would have turned out had he lived. We'll never know, just pray that someday we'll meet again!
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