Today is Veterans Day. Is there anyone you know who has served or is serving in the military that you'd like to honor today?
My maternal grandpa (Paul) was in the Navy and my maternal step-grandpa (Don) was in the Marines. They were both amazing, amazing men.
Paul died when I was eight, and it was the hardest thing I ever had to experience until my maternal grandma died in 2003. I remembered him having two giant scars on both shoulders and only knowing that he had to have two tattoos on both shoulders removed while serving his stint in the Navy. Now that I know what they are (an eagle on one shoulder and the standard Navy anchor on the other), I want to get one of them as a tribute for him. Nobody ever actually saw the tattoos, because he had to have them removed immediately due to some type of allergic reaction/infection to the ink. He died from the complications in a brain tumor.
Don died in 2006.I always said that I would give anything to have Paul back, but if that were the case, I'd have to keep Don around, too. On several different occasions, I'd visit my grandparents, only to have him pull down a photo album from his time in the Marines. He had amazing stories for every picture and I loved being around him every second. Up until the time he passed, he told everyone I was the grandkid he was the most proud of on a regular basis. It didn't matter if my brother was around or my 87 step-cousins, because to him, the only policy was honesty. He had a heart attack at church one Sunday and died.
The boy that broke my heart a billion time is now out the Air Force, and I'm glad because who wants to honor that shit?
