Q: What kind of person do you hope to be in 37 years?
A: Dad.
(For Lent, I've decided to write 40 posts about people I love / made me who I am / thankful to know / appreciate)
My father is the the youngest of 6.
Upon graduation from high school his parents left him.
Retired to Florida.
He worked full time at a canning factory to pay his way through school.
An institution that admitted him on academic probation.
He had to get an "A" in "Christian Family & Marriage" to graduate.
Supposedly it was his only "A" ever received.
Lord knows he's earning it now.
After buying his first car, a VW bug, he was able to pack himself and everything owned into it.
The love of his life came at a time when his friends had given up on him.
Bought a home in suburban Chicago for more money they could ever image earning.
***
I don't know the hardships endured during the short life of my brother.
Rumors have recently developed.
Aid from our Church.
My sister staying for long periods of times at friends.
Sadly, I may never know the truth.
These questions I don't know how to ask.
***
I was born when he was 37.
He's always been older than the Dads of my friends.
Yet, he's always acted younger than them.
I heard complains from other Fathers.
Never from mine.
My sister and I frequently go to his bottomless well of wisdom.
Earned through a life neither of us think we have the strength to live.
