March 1946 - Surprising only to Me

 Dad, 

This is one of those silly realizations where I can say that "I was years old when"...  I was reading this letter from you to Grandma and I was amazed that you talked about your travels like you were riding the ditch in Morgan County or bumping along crossing the Rainbow Bridge on your way to a fellow farmer's land to discuss borrowing a tractor. 

I imagined how impressed Grandma would be while reading your letters and how proud she would be to show them off to family. And then, it dawned on me: Grandma herself was not from the States. She was from Kraft, or Frank, Russia and had traveled through much foreign country to be here. To become a citizen and to be my Grandma - and your mother. 

No, Grandma would not have been so impressed by the places you traveled because she had also traveled a great deal, but I am sure that she would have been very proud that her son (the only one) would go back in space and place to fight for a freedom that she herself left a homeland to find.

You wrote this letter from Strausburg, France as you passed through towards Switzerland, with a layover in Karlsruhe, Germany. Gosh, Dad, it was not Grandma who would be so impress, but me. I have never been anywhere and you were blessed to go many places. I remember that going on a Sunday drive was special to you. You never took anything for granted. 

I was happy to be with you, even if it was just a Sunday drive.                                                                        Happy Memorial Day, Dad. You are one in a million. I miss you.