Dad's Job Description 5/27/2019

Good Morning,

I am sitting in the den looking out of the second story window. I have been outside for awhile watching the sun come up and our dog Gibbs chasing robins and sparrows in the yard. He is sitting next to me. I poured a large mug of Door County Mocha Mint to sip on while I write. The coffee is soothing the chill in my bones.

We are not working today as we observe Memorial Day and honor those who have served and paid the ultimate sacrifice in battle for our country. For me it is a somber day and I am grateful for those who died for us. My heart goes out to those visiting cemeteries today to honor their fallen.

John 15:13 New King James Version (NKJV)

¹³ Greater love has no one than this, than to lay down one’s life for his friends.

Our Dad served this country in the Korean war and was able to come home in one piece. He was a proud United States Marine and everyone who knew him knew he was a Marine. Long before he was a husband and father he was a Marine. The job description for a man had been amended for him and Marine was added to his.

What Dad was taught in the Marine Corp was used once he left the service. He was neat and organized. He seemed to always have a plan, and never retreated from a fight or a problem. You never quit on the side of  right. He took care of his family like he would have taken care of a comrade in arms. We were protected and taught to fight if needed. Dad went to work every day and for some years it was for two jobs that he held down. He was proud of our country and served in the American Legion up until his own death. He was instrumental in providing military honors at funerals for many.

Dad liked to hunt deer and took pride in taking down his deer with one shot. It was a sad day when I witnessed it taking more than one shot. He told me later that wounding a deer and having to shoot again led him eventually to quit hunting. Dad liked to eat venison and never wasted anything. I can still smell the garlic, onions, venison and pepper simmering in the pan, smothered with mushrooms. Some how he always had the most tender venison meals around. Dad would heat his home with wood and he spent hours upon hours cutting and splitting his fire wood. Very often the family would join him in that task. My wife Rene didn't escape that chore by being female and an in-law. She stacked plenty of wood in her years with our Dad. He always had a warm house and said, "I will never be cold like I was in Korea".

So how is this supposed to inspire you?  I am not really sure. I decided to share this and it sounds more like a Father's Day tribute than a Memorial Day Salute.

But whether those who served are a man or a woman their job description as a person changed the day they enlisted to serve. The experience changed them forever and the warrior is now in their DNA. We are to be proud of them and grateful for their service. We need to be quick to understand things like a house kept at 80 degrees instead of a comfortable 72. We need to overlook being chewed out for shooting more than one shot at a deer. We need to learn from them the love of country and family. We need to assist when they go to visit a cemetery and they take an hour to straighten flags on graves. We will never know what goes through their minds when they see a flag tipped on an angle instead of being straight and flying high.

So today if you had the privilege of being raised by someone who had this job description in their life. Look up and say. Thank You Lord.

God bless,

Marty