Most dads start out these days right in the delivery room (much to many's dismay) and are there from the very first breath of a baby's life. Mine was (pretty close anyway, it was the 60s), then sadly he was gone. From what I hear, he was a really great man (if you can call a soldier baby in his early 20s a man). I look at his pictures and he seems like a boy. The thing about war is that I am sure there are many times a person fighting thinks about dying. I would think especially if you have a new little family, you think about the future, and the scenario of "what if I don't have a future?". I don't know what it is like to be fighting a war, cannot even imagine what goes through one's mind, but if he was ever worried about what would become of mom and I if he didn't come home, he shouldn't have.
I have this dad who has always been there for me, anything I ever needed. From the bike with the sissy bar, banana seat and basket with flowers, to the heavy duty swing set with the slide, the Datsun with the sunroof, because it was the best! He taught me to ride a bike, took me to special birthday dinners, made it to every special event, was there for all the father daughter banquets (some I didn't even want to go to). He crashed all our baby showers (everyone expected it and loved it)and the first time I watched Steve Martin in Father of the Bride, I thought, "hey, how did they know my dad so well?".
He rescued mom and me, swooped in and gave us a great life filled with lots of fun, great family vacations, worked so hard so mom could be a mom, and always put everyone else's needs in front of his own (he still does that to this day). He was "blessed with only girls, always out numbered. There were actually panicked calls home from Kroger like "with wings, without wings, regular, super, dry weave, mini???" Bless him! We just returned from a family vacation where he got to take his middle grandson to a military museum in Florida; no princesses, no American Girl dolls, no estrogen! He must have loved that!
Is he perfect? Probably not, but he is pretty darn close. His favorite thing to say is "I just want to bless you" and boy has he ever!! Love you WB!
