[Native_American] Please bare with me

[Wild Horse]

============================================================ --> WHAT'S THAT?, YOU WANNA MAKE A LIVING ONLINE? People from all walks of life are becoming wealthy online. Could YOU do it too? Find out in this free step-by-step guide to Making a Living Online. (By someone actually doing it!): http://click.topica.com/caaacHLb1ddNBb2HgmNb/bizweb2000 ============================================================ Please bear with me as I try to put some feelings to words.   First I would like to thank everyone for the words of encouragement that I have received over the last day. And I would like to apologize if this gets too long.   My father was born on July 22, 1939. He was 62.   My father lied about his age and joined the Coast Guard when he was 16. After a brush with the law involving a toy gun, 80 dollars and a bunch of candy and sodas, My father was given the choice between joining the Navy and going to prison. The Navy sounded real good to him!!   In 1959 he married his high school sweetheart, my mother. In February 1960 my brother was born. In 1962 came my older sister, she passed on after only a very short time on this earth. In 1963 I came about, and life was never the same. 1966 brought my younger sister to this world. On August 21, 1974 our lives were changed forever thanks to the place called divorce court.   During the summer of 1975 my father retired from the Navy. 20 years of his life had been given to defend this country. He had been arrested during the Viet Nam era. Taken from his ship off the coast of Viet Nam for the unpatriotic thing known as draft dodging. He went through court to prove that it was impossible to dodge the draft when he was already an enlisted member of the US Navy.   He led a hard life, always fighting for what was right. Putting this country above and before himself. After his retirement he married again. 1976 I believe was the year. In 1977 he fathered my youngest brother and in 1983 my youngest sister came to be with us.   1997 brought about the end of my fathers second marriage and 2000 brought the beginning of his third.   My fathers life came to an end on Friday July 27, 2001 at around 5:30 in the evening. He had just left my youngest sisters home. They had been planning a vacation, a motorcycle trip from Ohio to Oklahoma to visit with our family there, with the possibility of extending the trip down to visit with my family in Texas.   My father enjoyed collectable cars, riding motorcycles, touring this country and meeting as many people as he could. His idea of a beautiful spring day was to sit back in a field and watch the butterflies.   People say that there are good times and bad times in every lifetime. I have been sitting and thinking for over 24 hours... I can't remember a single bad time.   I remember when I was 4... My father went hunting for the first time. He shot a really nice deer... He was so happy that he was able to put food on the table in the traditional way... At the time any deer taken in Maine was required to be processed at a meat packing plant... His happiness was lost when he found out that his deer had been shot by someone else a couple years before... The meat he had planned for our family was contaminated by lead poisoning.   I remember the smile on his face as he drove around in his Fiat Spider when I was 6.   I remember the only thing he was worried about when I was 7 and our house was burning down... He was only worried that the family was safe.   I remember sitting down with him and building string line controlled aircraft. I remember the day he first taught me to fly one. He never did get angry about me crashing it. When I was 34 I was helping him clean out the attic... I pulled down a box and handed it to him... He chose that one box to open... He called me down from the attic and presented me with the plane I had crashed so many years before. We stopped cleaning the attic and sat down together to rebuild the plane. In 21 years that plane had only flown 4 minutes and that was when I crashed it... When it was done rebuilding my father told me he was going to show me how to fly it. Dad got that thing back in the air... 2 1/2 minutes later it was on a free flight straight into a telephone pole. I razzed my father about the fact that I was able to fly it longer than he was before crashing it.   I remember going out with him to go metal detecting... He always found the cool stuff... Coins, Knives, old ammunition... But he was just as proud as I was when we looked at my collection of bottle caps and tin cans. The only coin I ever found was an 1883 Indian Head penny... He found about 30 dollars worth of new coins that day and made me feel so very special because I found the oldest coin. I gave him that penny. The last time I saw him, he was still carrying that penny in his wallet.   I remember when I was 13... He taught me how to ride a motorcycle. After we had run around the town with me dragging one shoe on the ground, he never complained about me lying to him about not knowing how that shoe had been worn out so fast. He never complained about the fact that I wrecked his brand new Honda 175 motorcycle.   I remember his favorite saying. There is the right way to do something the wrong way to do something and there is your way of doing something. Even though he would say that my way was the wrong way, he would always congratulate me when the project worked correctly.   My father was always there... When I fell off my bicycle he was there to dust me off. He was there when I learned to ride with no hands. He was there when I learned how to take my bicycle apart but couldn't remember how to put it back together. He was there when I jumped my first ramp. He was there when I first learned to shoot a bow. He was there to teach me how to track a deer. He taught me how to make a snowball. He was out of the house and on the track before the Honda 175 had time to stop when I wrecked it. He was there when I needed someone to talk to.   He was more than a father. He was my friend.   My father has now left this earth. He left this earth while doing something he really enjoyed, he was riding his motorcycle. It is a shame that the woman in her brand new Dodge Ram Pickup wasn't looking and hit him head on. My father didn't have a chance. At least I can feel comfort in the fact that he didn't feel pain. My father passed on impact.   I will miss him. He is responsible for who I am.   My father has left this earth and his family now must carry on. His mother. His 2 brothers and 1 sister. His many nieces and nephews. His 5 living children. His 9 grandchildren. His 2 ex-wives and current wife. The thousands of people he has directly touched in his life.   My brother will be leaving at 2:45 Tuesday morning and I will be leaving at 6:00 Tuesday morning. We will both be returning late Friday night.   Something my father always said... Always remember that the butterflies are all free...   My father is now free... I love you Dad ============================================================ Crazy for bargains? Go nuts with TopOffers where total bargain madness is normal! http://click.topica.com/caaacgEb1ddNBb2HgmNg/TopOffers ============================================================ Visit and show your support for the Grass Roots Oyate http://members.tripod.com/GrassRootsOyate Clemency for Leonard Peltier. 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