Something New

I have an amazing family, one I hold near and dear to my heart. One that has always supported and given me the love that I have needed. My Mom has been so amazing in my life that while I miss my father I've always had so much love around me and a family so close that it was never hard to get through his death. My Mom has been an amazing rock for so many people around her and I could never ask for more.

 

So while I do have my father's family out there in the world growing up we were never around them after my father's death. Mom's family became the only family I knew. She never held Brittany and I back from knowing them but we just never did (kind of hard when people live on different sides of a country). Anyway my cousin contacted us recently and then her father did as well. He and Brittany have chatted far more often. He told us he had a few things he wanted to send that were our father's. Today we got the box.

 

Included were pictures from his childhood and early naval experience. He was a handsome man! The first thing I noticed is my nephew John looks just like him at that age! It is crazy!!! : ) Mom kept saying it but I'd never known it. - I have two photos one of my dad and one of my nephew posted. -

 

He also sent his naval jacket, his glasses, a knife he used often to build model airplanes (go figure!), and one of his naval pins. We are to separate it and choose who gets what between Brittany and I. So far we have decided to leave everything in the box for safe keeping except his knife which Britt is putting in a shadow box and I will keep his pin. I find something beautiful between the likeness of it and my wings (I'll share photos soon). I also love the irony that he was at the bottom of the ocean (submarine sailor) and I fly to the top of the skies.

 

I started out with a bad day (lets just say I was suppose to fly to both Japan and China in the next eight days but SICK) ... I can't say it got any better because of the box because really with my Mom how can a day not get better? However to have something of my father's that he touched is something beautiful and joyful.

 

Brandi

 

ps ... a huge congrats to my lovely cousin Veronica on the birth of her second child and little girl named Sophia Marie. Now my family is on a roll! Olivia and Brittany had little girls first (Angel Marie and Isabelle Marie), then had little boys (Jesse Makai and John Joseph), then Veronica had Alex now Sophia. Hopefully I'll have a girl and boy too one day! : )