Rambrat
Elusive
- Joined
- Jan 8, 2002
- Posts
- 22,462
There is someone I'd like you to meet... my father.
Next month would have been his 78th birthday...born September 29, 1924. He died on November 8, 2000 four months after we discovered that he had cancer.
Inspired by PC's moving tribute to his father, I wanted to honor my father on his birthday. My father did not share much of his life experiences, so I know very little about him other than he was born in Baltimore Maryland, served in the army as an MP, loved Las Vegas and loved women. In fact, when he discovered that he would not have long to live, he chose Vegas as his last request. We all went to Vegas one last time.
We did not always get along and it took some 30 years to finally come to an understanding of each other. I lived most of my life trying to NOT be like him. In the end, I realized that perhaps I should have been more like him in some ways and also realized that I am like him in some ways.
He would have loved Lit.
In closing, I wanted to share the words that I spoke as I stood before all who gathered to say goodbye to my father.
a tribute to him...
My father once inquired as to why I always chose a path in life more likened to an obstacle course … to which I replied… “because I didn’t want to be like you Dad.” He nodded his head as if to say … I understand. For as much as we wanted to do more with our life than our father… he wanted it for us, that much more.
Through the years, I grew to understand my father more because along that rocky path, there always stood a figure willing to give me some direction.
Perhaps my father never invented anything that simplified our existence … nor did he find a cure for some horrid disease … but what he did do was equally as important to us. He gave of himself.
Because of him … we always had a roof above our head … because of him, we never went hungry … and because of him, we were always clothed. He always provided … he was always there to lend an ear. And isn’t that the measure of a man.
There is something else that I came to realized about my father … something that we should all strive for … and I think it can be summed up by something the wizard said to the Tin-man as he gave him his new heart … “remember, that a heart is not judged by how much you love others, but by how much others love you.
And my father was loved.
So now I say … “I want to be like you Dad.”
I love you Dad … and I will miss you.
Forgot to post picture....on page 2
Next month would have been his 78th birthday...born September 29, 1924. He died on November 8, 2000 four months after we discovered that he had cancer.
Inspired by PC's moving tribute to his father, I wanted to honor my father on his birthday. My father did not share much of his life experiences, so I know very little about him other than he was born in Baltimore Maryland, served in the army as an MP, loved Las Vegas and loved women. In fact, when he discovered that he would not have long to live, he chose Vegas as his last request. We all went to Vegas one last time.
We did not always get along and it took some 30 years to finally come to an understanding of each other. I lived most of my life trying to NOT be like him. In the end, I realized that perhaps I should have been more like him in some ways and also realized that I am like him in some ways.
He would have loved Lit.
In closing, I wanted to share the words that I spoke as I stood before all who gathered to say goodbye to my father.
a tribute to him...
My father once inquired as to why I always chose a path in life more likened to an obstacle course … to which I replied… “because I didn’t want to be like you Dad.” He nodded his head as if to say … I understand. For as much as we wanted to do more with our life than our father… he wanted it for us, that much more.
Through the years, I grew to understand my father more because along that rocky path, there always stood a figure willing to give me some direction.
Perhaps my father never invented anything that simplified our existence … nor did he find a cure for some horrid disease … but what he did do was equally as important to us. He gave of himself.
Because of him … we always had a roof above our head … because of him, we never went hungry … and because of him, we were always clothed. He always provided … he was always there to lend an ear. And isn’t that the measure of a man.
There is something else that I came to realized about my father … something that we should all strive for … and I think it can be summed up by something the wizard said to the Tin-man as he gave him his new heart … “remember, that a heart is not judged by how much you love others, but by how much others love you.
And my father was loved.
So now I say … “I want to be like you Dad.”
I love you Dad … and I will miss you.
Forgot to post picture....on page 2
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