Words seem insufficient to define my father. Some would call him a Marine, but I never really knew him in that role. I was too young to know the man in the uniform. I knew the man who was a dad, and then a grandfather to my children. I knew a man who never met a person he couldn't talk to, who smiled at everyone. I knew a man who hadn't ever faced a situation that he could not conquer. Failure was never an option for him. Fear never kept him from doing anything. I knew a man who loved deeply on the inside, but who was stoic on the outside. If you knew him, you liked him or respected him. There are people who become more perfect after death; Dad is not one of those. He was as we all described him. We need not embellish our memories of him.
His smile, his teasing, his wonderful zeal for life will be missed. We all have a task before us. We must attempt to imitate my father. We must try to live life as well as he lived his.
5 comments:
Your father sounds like the kind of man that causes the rest of us to be lacking a little bit for never having known him. My best wishes to you and your family.
Well said.
I knew the man who was so gentle wtih my boys, who laughed and played with them, who was so special to your eldest and, therefore, to my two. by rights my younger thought he was his PopPop too, I think. I remember the hay ride and the monstrous apple my older was eating. I remember being so grateful your girls had a grandfather as fantastic as my boys. I am still grateful, and even today I saw him in them. Especially the eldest.
I have a sun hat from my grandfather that he used to wear when he was gardening. Putting it on while doing yard work reminds me of him. It has often felt as if he were inspecting my yard with me, approving or disapproving as it need be. I find it interesting that I've kept it up better since he died than I ever did before.
We are blessed by the heritage of our fathers and fathers' fathers. It sounds like it is indeed a rich heritage that yours has bestowed upon you.
Take care.
Sharon said...
You know me; now I know your father
through you. You are truly his
daughter. What you would have said
has been said and is known to him.
Once hearts are so connected, they
can never be parted, not even by
death. This is how he knows...
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