Today my treasure is very near and dear to our hearts. It's all about my father in law, Doug.
When I first met him I have to tell you that he intimidated me, he was the kind of person that you instantly gave respect to and didn't dare go against his wishes. He was a retired Marine, Drill Sergeant and I guess that was part of the authority that he had. He was the most amazing man you could ever meet, and unfortunately for me, I didn't get to enjoy his presence for as long as I wished to.
I don't even know where to begin to tell you how sweet and kind he was. A true family man.
He loved the military, he served in Vietnam and by the time he retired in 1987 he had a huge number of medals, including National Defense Service Medal; Vietnam Service Medal; and the Vietnam Presidential Unit Citation with Palm and Frame. Just to name a few.
These are just some of the mementos that Curt kept from his dad, and he treasures them dearly.
But like Curt and I said many times, he got to hold Nicholas before he was born, he was the first to see him and it makes us happy to know that he was there and will always be there.
We gave Nicholas the name of Nicholas Wayne, Wayne being Dad's middle name too.
During the period that dad was extremely sick, he still took time to take us out and spend time with the family. The last time we were there visiting, 7 months before he passed, the morning before we left to come back home, he got us up at 7am to go fishing with him.
We didn't know it at the time, but these would become some of our FAVORITE memories from the time spent with dad.
RIP Dad. We love you and miss you more than words could ever say!!!!
Thank you for being the best husband, father, father in law, grandfather and friend that anyone could ever wish for. You made our lives so much better just by being in them. We love you!!!
And that's my Treasure for this Tuesday, to see a list of other participants, just head on over to Faith's blog "Faithful Mommy".
RIP Dad. We love you and miss you more than words could ever say!!!!
Thank you for being the best husband, father, father in law, grandfather and friend that anyone could ever wish for. You made our lives so much better just by being in them. We love you!!!
And that's my Treasure for this Tuesday, to see a list of other participants, just head on over to Faith's blog "Faithful Mommy".
What a great tribute to his memory!
ReplyDeleteMy dad also served in Vietnam, also highly decorated. Died one month before Doug.
Our heroes!
"Treasure Tuesday"...hadn't heard of that before...very interesting! :)
ReplyDeleteI just found your blog and it's VERY interesting...if you stop by mine anytime soon...you'll see my kids in the adventure of planting their very first vegetable garden and hopefully in a few days I'll be able to post them planting their own flowers too!!! LOL
Hope that you can find the time to come by my blog site and please post a comment when you do...I like for those who visit my site to let me know they've been there :) (you will need to 1. register (FREE), on the right side of my site before you post...this is just to make your visits more personalized, etc. and then 2. click "Leave Your Comments" back at the regular part of my site on any comments that interests you, and then 3. "Post Reply" once the comments page comes up and type your comment).
I'll try to visit your site regularly and hope that you visit mine as well! :) God Bless! :)
I love this treasure! When you wrote, "he got to hold Nicholas before he was born, he was the first to see him and it makes us happy to know that he was there and will always be there" it brought tears to my eyes. What a beautiful outlook!
ReplyDeleteI've posted a treasure as well. Stop by and take a peek.
Very touching tribute! That is a great generation of men, isn't it?
ReplyDeleteWhat a sweet story and a wonderful tribute. Thanks for sharing it.
ReplyDeleteMy treasure is up, too.
Beautiful, absolutely beautiful! He sounds like a wonderful person to have known.
ReplyDeleteWhat a great treasure Sandra. So sweet of you to share with us. Thank you!
ReplyDeleteSo sorry for your loss. He does sound like an awesome man
ReplyDeleteThose are great pictures. Sorry about your FIL, glad you had a good relationship with him.
ReplyDelete