Dad

Today I’m thinking about the people who lost their lives fighting for our country. And I’m thinking about my dad.

My mom shared this photo of him at the wall of the Vietnam Veteran’s Memorial. They had stopped in Washington DC to visit it some years ago. They found the names of a few people they knew.

My dad was in the Army and fought on the front lines of the Vietnam War. He very rarely spoke of his time there. And we didn’t ask. I feel sad and regretful about that. He was extremely proud of his service. And Memorial Day was a solemn day for him. He always went to the Memorial Day parade and ceremony in our town. We never went. It was always something he did on his own.

Four years ago, when he was diagnosed with small cell lung cancer, we learned that this was one of the types of cancer caused by Agent Orange.

I keep thinking about how he wasn’t angry. He was never angry about his service. He was never angry about his cancer. He wasn’t an angry person, at all.

A few months before he passed, I was listening to him talk to someone about his cancer and he said something like this, “when I look around, somehow my problems don’t seem so bad in comparison.”

My heart is with my dad and all of his fellow service members today. You are appreciated.

Thanks for reading today’s entry in my daily blog. My goal here is to practice noticing. I try to write about small things and I try to keep it light. Sometimes I write about creativity or healing. And sometimes I write about my dogs or what I cooked for dinner. Writing daily here is a way for me to shine a light back on my life and help me see.

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