Good Conversation

Tonight was a good night! It's our last night at my dad's and though I am glad we are going out on our own finally, I know I will miss the evenings sitting out on the back patio with my dad chatting. He has been gone so much, even when he was living in Cali that I didn't get much time to talk to him. Mom called tonight and we talked politics. Not just chit chat but had a real conversation, something we really haven't done since I moved and it was great. I unfortunately didn't have much information to put forth and then the kids kept getting up and coming downstairs when they were supposed to be going to sleep so I had to cut it short. Dad was working late at the base and when he got home just after 8 he was still in his BDU's. After I got the kids settled or so I thought, we cracked open a couple of MGD's, ( I know, I drank beer, 3 of them actually! And they didn't taste like horse piss!) and we got to talking. Random stuff at first, talking about some e-mails we had sent back and forth today but then 9/11 came out and we talked about where we were and the events just after. Then we talked about being deployed and I learned a few things about his time in Desert storm I didn't know, like Collin Powell coming in during a sandstorm and a visit from Bob Hope. We talked about the Russian Sub that went down a long while ago, dad was part of the team that was set up to send a rescue team to save them, though Russia never let us. We discussed the people in the military, the ones with all the Bravado, looking for a pat on the back for being sent out, when really they are the ones that cry themselves to sleep or the guys that sign up and then freak out when they are called to duty. We also talked about our sense of duty and my disappointment and never getting to Iraq. I signed up knowing that I could go to war, this government of ours paid lots of money to train me to do just that and I still missed out on going. I know some people don't understand that but I was never easy about my parental discharge. It was good for my family but I felt I came short. I look up to those, like Patrick that have gone and come back and gone again even though it is hard. I look up to those who signed up after the war started happy to be a part of the military and I look up to those that went and are proud of themselves for making the decision to sign up and to have the chance to serve their country during a great need.
My military experience, though I treasure it, didn't really amount to much and I regret that. It was nice talking to dad about it. Having someone that has been there and done that and knows how much I wanted to do it. It was nice to be able to talk one on one with dad about things from our past and to have someone understand. I love having real conversations with people, not ones that are about our day and the trivial passing of information that is mundane, but talking about things that matter, putting in your opinion about things bigger then you. I was grateful that I got to talk to both mom and dad tonight like that. I remember sitting on the front lawn and discussing God with them and my joining the military and other things of substance. I have always held dear the time I got to talk to my parents as equals. Tonight was a good night and I am very glad that I got to have those conversations, they mean a lot to me to connect like that to two people that I love but don't get to spend a lot of time with.