Yesterday started as any normal day for me. Woke up to help with the kids getting ready for school, making breakfast and feeding my 3 dogs. Around 10
am, I headed to take a shower, as things didn't feel quite right - I was starting to feel sick to my stomach. I got out out of the shower and walked
into the bedroom to get dressed and heard my cell phone beeping. I looked and I had 9 missed calls in roughly a 30 minute period. All were from my
youngest brother (I am the oldest) who never calls unless it's bad - ever.
After 3 minutes on the phone with him as I rushed to call him back, he started crying as to inform me that our father had passed in his sleep and was
found at just after 8 o'clock in the morning. I never felt such a strong and terrible feeling of sadness, anger and shock all at once. In the span of
what seemed like seconds, I was crying and cussing out loud as to what I was hearing.
Our father was a man who became my hero as a child. He was simply larger than life to all of us. I was an abused child - as were my 4 brothers. He was
the angel that rescued us so long ago from an environment that was one that gave us no chance of survival in this world. He raised us to be strong and
courteous children - with respect for others; as well as teaching us to be charitable to those who had the genuine need for it; expecting nothing in
return. It was the greatest thing one could do for another in his eyes. He helped many needy people over the course of his long life.
So many memories have gone through my mind over the course of the last 24 hours - some good, others not so good. All I would not trade for the world
in any regard. My father was a military man earlier in his life; serving as an infantryman and mechanic. He told me many stories about the things he
witnessed during the war as a teenager and later into my twenties. It is because of him that have the deep respect that i do for the men and women in
our armed forces. He earned the medal of honor in WW II, even though it hurt him to look at it. Too many bad memories he would tell us kids - he was
wounded twice outside of Stuttgart Germany in 1943, in saving two fellow infantrymen. This medal he earned for duty to country; as he kept it in a
compartment of his bedroom closet, something he told very few about.
He had already had 3 children before adopting us. he was in his 50's when he made the selfless decision to give us kids a future, forsaking his and
his wife's own plans of retirement to do so. He was the one to taught me to quell my anger as a child. My anger against the world that I had due to my
less than fortunate early upbringing. He taught us all to hope and what great things come from doing such things. There was simply not a single day
where I was not proud to call myself his son. My heart and soul are bleeding as I type this - it hit me like a freight train to hear that he has
passed from this world. He moved to Kansas in 2002, leaving Pennsylvania for good - save a few times that he would visit a year, to retire and live
his life in relative comfort and peace.
He passed many great lessons to me throughout my life, as I have patterned my life after him in every aspect. I got on here today as a means of
distracting myself from what I am dealing with in his passing. I have come to the conclusion that I need a break from ATS for a short while as I deal
with this tragic event in my life; the gloom and doom in some areas here is just too much for me to handle on top of what has happened. For all who
have lost such a great person such as him in your lives, I can truly understand and relate to your pain now - I don't think this pain will be gone for
quite some time, if ever.
I want a few of his wise words that he imparted to me to be known here. Never, ever give up hope. Hope is what this world so desperately needs right
now. And do not worry about what cannot be changed; only what can be changed.
To my one and only true father in this world, I will love and miss you forever.
My father - March 25, 1925 - December 7, 2012. Rest in peace.
Always hold on to those you love, like there is no tomorrow.
***Something kept bugging me as i signed off. I was so upset I typed the wrong birthday in. Thanks for those who have left kind comments thus far. I
needed a quiet place to type my thoughts and vent.
edit on 8-12-2012 by Rubicant13 because: (no reason given)
edit on 8-12-2012 by Rubicant13 because: (no reason
given)
edit on 8-12-2012 by Rubicant13 because: (no reason given)