Father's day came early

Hello friends,
The Lord is blessing each and every eye reading this blog and providing for all of their needs: spiritual, physical, mental, and emotional. In Jesus' Name. Amen.
My family took a mini-vacay to the Galveston/Houston area, to visit my father's grave site in Houston, at the Veteran's Memorial Cemetery.
Since Carlton is off on Tr's, and the hotel in Houston was booked for Friday, I suggested a ride to Galveston b/c I absolutely adore the beach.
As I stood admiring the vastness of the ocean, I was reminded of my father. He loved the water just as much as me. While I was reminiscing, a man who looked like my father suddenly appeared in the water. The stranger startled me, but then, unexpectantly, I found comfort in his appearance. As he got closer to me, of course there was no resemblance, but that was okay. I understood the God wink.

We decided to visit dad's resting place on our way out of the city, Sunday afternoon.
The thought of visiting my father's tombstone at the end of the trip hung over me.
He died twenty years ago, at the age of fifty-three, when I was twenty-two. My father was the consummate 'bad boy,' really. Oddly enough, I consider myself more like my father than my mother; not that I'm a 'bad girl,' - far from it - but in his attitude about life and living. His excesses in drinking and smoking aside, I saw a man who was fond of his family and friends. He used to talk to my older cousins for hours; I was too young to understand what they talked about, but my cousins loved to be around my father, so I imagine the conversations were endearing.
I specifically remember one time when my cousin's bf came to pick her up for a date. The bf had stopped in front of the house and honked for my cousin to come outside. My father found this behavior deplorable. He walked to the car and said to the young man, "You need to park the car, go to the door, and walk her to your car."
He once told me to 'never forget where I come from,' and I haven't. But I like to think that my dad didn't just want me to remember the meek start I had in life; he wanted me to remember that money doesn't make a person happy. Family and friends, these are the places where happiness resides.
Miss you, dad. Thanks for teaching me important lessons in life.
Happy Father's day, family and friends. Thank you for being a part of my life.

"I am a little pencil in the hand of a writing God who is sending a love letter to the world." Mother Theresa