I drew this of my father due to the fact that he died when I was only a few months old. I do not know him but I have learned of him from other family members. He was a soldier, policeman, Marine, father, brother, son, and husband. I wish I could of known him better. I own two real things that were his when I was younger, his flag that was put on his coffin that I never took out of the triangle till 911 happened and I was inspired to wave his flag from my apartment window. It hangs in the window every JUNE-JULY and November since 911 happened. I was given a wallet of him some time later and his old Marine trunk that had some goodies in it, some art he did, and love letters to my mother when he was off being a Soldier in Vietnam. I have thought of him many times in my life, wondering why he had to die so early, but now that I have children I see his side of possibly his last days. Leaving four children behind a wife and brand new daughter. I can imagine it was heart crushing for him. Cancer took him away from our family, and it made things hard for my mother and my brothers and sister. How would we pick up from that, but my family did, and I am thankful every day for that. They found the strength to move on and go forward in life. My sister is now the mother of three boys whom she loves dearly. My two brothers have families of their own with outrageous children I love to, and am honored to know. Both are great dads in their own rights. I am a single mom with a momma bear attitude making sure my kids got mom and dad, but even I can not fill those shoes fully. I have a few friends who are dads and I admire how they stepped up to be such awesome examples of Dadhood, it is amazing. But this photo is a drawing I did of the wallet that was given to me of my birth bio father, I put this up in my office to remind me he was there, he missed out on my life and I need to carry all my experiences back home to him in heaven when we meet again. I am astonished how greatly one can feel for someone who rarely was there in your life, who barely was able to hold you, who kissed you goodbye for the last time and all you could do was spit up on him to show your love. Till we meet again Dad.

My Father Daddy Al