Thank you for sharing lynnsgirl...your dad was very wise. His love still lives through you.

My dad was a very intelligent man. His resume included 2 full pages of just his many certifications and degree's. He also wrote and published his own book in his late 70's. (A wake up call to America.) I feel I need to state this before I share my two favorite stories about him.First is he was working intently on a building project and a fly landed on his forehead. Without missing a beat he slapped at the fly without thinking that what he had in his hand was a hammer and knocked himself clean out. (We loved re-telling that one....)Second is from his late teens. He was convinced he could work out the mechanics of flight. Living on a farm, he had all of the necessary supplies at his disposal, chickens, the harness shop and plenty of younger brothers. He constructed harnesses for a group of chickens, got them all harnessed up and stuffed into washtubs that he hoisted onto the roof of the barn. That was the easy part apparently. I'm not sure what was bartered to get one of his brothers to climb up and take the reins but he finally pulled that off too. My granny was just a little more than peeved over the number of chickens killed in that escapade. (P.S. - The brother involved lived on many more years but never missed an opportunity to bring up the damage done him that day!)

my biological father left us when I was too young to remember. when I started school, I was the only boy in my class without a dad... that made things tough for me, since I had "nobody to defend me" that made me an easy target for bullies... I learned to push, throw punches and kicks first. and to apologize later.my mother started dating another Army guy... his name was Ray, and he had some really interesting war stories. I was 6 when we met him... he lost all his squad, and three of his fingers, in an ambush in Vietnam.For my 7th birthday, he showed up at my school with the biggest birthday cake I've ever seen... it must have been larger than myself! The whole class ate cake and more than half was left over... we ate cake for like an entire week. But the one thing I'll never forget was how he told the entire class in his broken Spanish that I was his son. That was the best day ever of my short life.Ray taught me a lot of things... he took me fishing, showed me how to hold and throw a baseball, showed me how not to be afraid of frogs and snakes and, despite my mom's disapproval, gave me my first pocket knife. Unfortunately, Ray was in my life only 3 years. After his days in the Canal Zone he went back to North Carolina with the Army. A few months later we learned that he had died in a motorcycle accident. Mom told me years later that he had some issues... he felt guilt for not dying with his buddies in that ambush and he always had nightmares about Vietnam. He drank a lot... every time we saw him, he had a drink in his hand. Despite all his flaws -which at the time were not visible to me- Ray was my hero, a man of valor and honor... and he was my dad.

my biological father left us when I was too young to remember. when I started school, I was the only boy in my class without a dad... that made things tough for me, since I had "nobody to defend me" that made me an easy target for bullies... I learned to push, throw punches and kicks first. and to apologize later.my mother started dating another Army guy... his name was Ray, and he had some really interesting war stories. I was 6 when we met him... he lost all his squad, and three of his fingers, in an ambush in Vietnam.For my 7th birthday, he showed up at my school with the biggest birthday cake I've ever seen... it must have been larger than myself! The whole class ate cake and more than half was left over... we ate cake for like an entire week. But the one thing I'll never forget was how he told the entire class in his broken Spanish that I was his son. That was the best day ever of my short life.Ray taught me a lot of things... he took me fishing, showed me how to hold and throw a baseball, showed me how not to be afraid of frogs and snakes and, despite my mom's disapproval, gave me my first pocket knife. Unfortunately, Ray was in my life only 3 years. After his days in the Canal Zone he went back to North Carolina with the Army. A few months later we learned that he had died in a motorcycle accident. Mom told me years later that he had some issues... he felt guilt for not dying with his buddies in that ambush and he always had nightmares about Vietnam. He drank a lot... every time we saw him, he had a drink in his hand. Despite all his flaws -which at the time were not visible to me- Ray was my hero, a man of valor and honor... and he was my dad.

my biological father left us when I was too young to remember. when I started school, I was the only boy in my class without a dad... that made things tough for me, since I had "nobody to defend me" that made me an easy target for bullies... I learned to push, throw punches and kicks first. and to apologize later.my mother started dating another Army guy... his name was Ray, and he had some really interesting war stories. I was 6 when we met him... he lost all his squad, and three of his fingers, in an ambush in Vietnam.For my 7th birthday, he showed up at my school with the biggest birthday cake I've ever seen... it must have been larger than myself! The whole class ate cake and more than half was left over... we ate cake for like an entire week. But the one thing I'll never forget was how he told the entire class in his broken Spanish that I was his son. That was the best day ever of my short life.Ray taught me a lot of things... he took me fishing, showed me how to hold and throw a baseball, showed me how not to be afraid of frogs and snakes and, despite my mom's disapproval, gave me my first pocket knife. Unfortunately, Ray was in my life only 3 years. After his days in the Canal Zone he went back to North Carolina with the Army. A few months later we learned that he had died in a motorcycle accident. Mom told me years later that he had some issues... he felt guilt for not dying with his buddies in that ambush and he always had nightmares about Vietnam. He drank a lot... every time we saw him, he had a drink in his hand. Despite all his flaws -which at the time were not visible to me- Ray was my hero, a man of valor and honor... and he was my dad.

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>> my biological father left us when I was too young to remember. when I started school, I was the only boy in my class without a dad... that made things tough for me, since I had "nobody to defend me" that made me an easy target for bullies... I learned to push, throw punches and kicks first. and to apologize later.my mother started dating another Army guy... his name was Ray, and he had some really interesting war stories. I was 6 when we met him... he lost all his squad, and three of his fingers, in an ambush in Vietnam.For my 7th birthday, he showed up at my school with the biggest birthday cake I've ever seen... it must have been larger than myself! The whole class ate cake and more than half was left over... we ate cake for like an entire week. But the one thing I'll never forget was how he told the entire class in his broken Spanish that I was his son. That was the best day ever of my short life.Ray taught me a lot of things... he took me fishing, showed me how to hold and throw a baseball, showed me how not to be afraid of frogs and snakes and, despite my mom's disapproval, gave me my first pocket knife. Unfortunately, Ray was in my life only 3 years. After his days in the Canal Zone he went back to North Carolina with the Army. A few months later we learned that he had died in a motorcycle accident. Mom told me years later that he had some issues... he felt guilt for not dying with his buddies in that ambush and he always had nightmares about Vietnam. He drank a lot... every time we saw him, he had a drink in his hand. Despite all his flaws -which at the time were not visible to me- Ray was my hero, a man of valor and honor... and he was my dad.@sandman: You know what I love most about this story? The irony....Without Ray you had no dad but you were adamant to be a great father. I listen to your stories and such and here again represents you broke the CYCLE!You're just one cool dude!

@sandman: You know what I love most about this story? The irony....Without Ray you had no dad but you were adamant to be a great father. I listen to your stories and such and here again represents you broke the CYCLE!You're just one cool dude!