Entry # 54: June 18, 2006

Camp Buehring, Kuwait (Somewhere near the Iraq border)

Father’s Day is around the corner. It will be different this year for my Dad. It will be his first Father’s Day without his Daddy. We lost Papa earlier this year. He was my last grandparent and one who had a profound effect on my life. I miss him. I know my Dad does.

I’m fortunate to still have my Dad. I won’t lie, we’ve had many arguments and fights. My Mom says this is only because we’re so much alike. It’s his fault though. I got his genes. A funny thing about relationships with Dads is that we spend our teen years ignoring his advice and telling him he’s wrong only to spend the rest of our life realizing he was right.

I was also lucky enough to have two of the greatest men I’ve ever known be my grandfathers. Both of them came from humble beginnings, one from the Piedmont foothills, the other from the dirt farms of South Georgia. Somehow they both ended up in Macon. Papa (my paternal grandfather) was a staff sergeant in World War II. Granddaddy (my maternal grandfather) was too young for World War I and too old for World War II. Still, he worked like a dog to take care of his family during the Great Depression. They worked hard and then came home tired and still had the energy to raise their children right. That’s the mark of a father.

Fatherhood scares me. It’s not that I don’t want kids, I certainly do (I had to type that or my Mom would kill me). I just have a tough legacy to live up to. Then again, I’ve had the best examples to follow. It’s been a long time since I’ve been around kids and babies. I’m not sure I even know how to interact with them. One thing’s for sure, they definitely are God’s gift. I don’t understand people who claim they don’t want kids. Sure they’re a hassle. They poop all over the place, they spit up on nice new dress shirts, and cry constantly. However, with the simple utterance of “da-da” from a cherubic tot waddling up to his father, I’ve seen grown men weep. Fatherhood is a dying art. And yet, it’s the greatest accomplishment in many men’s life to be able to say he raised good children into good adults. I’m in no hurry become a father. That’ll happen when the time is right. I just hope I’ll do half as good a job as my Dad and my grandfathers did. And so the Soldier’s life continues…