Veteran's Day has always had a special meaning to me. My father was Captain John Plasky. He fought in World War II and in the Korean War. In fact, he walked with the help of crutches and finally was in a wheelchair as a result of injuries sustained while serving his country.
Everything my father did was done in an extraordinary way. I asked him for a specific book one day. A few weeks later, I received boxes and boxes of books such as Tolstoy, Dickens, Stevenson, and Austen to name a few authors. He even included a giant Amy Vanderbilt's book of etiquette. I didn't even know what the word etiquette meant!
He was the first man to bring me flowers and I always knew he loved me. He told me I looked like his mother and that her freckles were beautiful. When I was in his presence, I was no longer the sick, fat little girl with polio legs who didn't quite fit in.
He told me a few times that he wouldn't live long enough to see me grow up. I can remember him talking about my future and his desires for my future. I now know he was trying to sear his words into my little mind for when he was no longer around. I was too young to understand that those amazing blue eyes wouldn't always look into mine. His voice sounded like the voice of God and I believed he would be with me forever. June 5, 1979 was the saddest day of my life. Everyone says that time eases all pain. They are wrong.
Everything my father did was done in an extraordinary way. I asked him for a specific book one day. A few weeks later, I received boxes and boxes of books such as Tolstoy, Dickens, Stevenson, and Austen to name a few authors. He even included a giant Amy Vanderbilt's book of etiquette. I didn't even know what the word etiquette meant!
He was the first man to bring me flowers and I always knew he loved me. He told me I looked like his mother and that her freckles were beautiful. When I was in his presence, I was no longer the sick, fat little girl with polio legs who didn't quite fit in.
He told me a few times that he wouldn't live long enough to see me grow up. I can remember him talking about my future and his desires for my future. I now know he was trying to sear his words into my little mind for when he was no longer around. I was too young to understand that those amazing blue eyes wouldn't always look into mine. His voice sounded like the voice of God and I believed he would be with me forever. June 5, 1979 was the saddest day of my life. Everyone says that time eases all pain. They are wrong.
