When they don't listen, just say "thanks"

On this Veteran's Day make sure you say "Thank you for your service" to any veteran or military person you see. I will be spending some time with two key veterans of 'the Greatest Generation" today; my father-in-law and my father.

Joe Proulx is a great example of the "Can Do" spirit that the Seabees where he served reinforced. He knows parts and logistics. He'll tinker with something broken, pulling it apart and putting it back together with parts from something else so that it works. He is having a hard time these days with Parkinson's developing and taking over his life. Parkinsons's in not something he is prepared to deal with. He can't take it apart and put it back together. When he does starting taking something apart, he doesn't remember doing it.

He will fall. Out of control, he just will lose balance and fall. This can be real dangerous when navigating the stairs in his house. He has already had several incidents with emergency room visits, stitches and bruises. He fell this past Sunday. Coming up from the basement, his shop where he does all his tinkering, he fell backwards. The family is still not sure how far he fell but he fell. Broke his neck this time. Second vertebrae so he was lucky. If it had been the first vertebrae, the situation could have been far worse.

Jerry Sherlock, my father, you may already know some of his story. We have been recording parts of the story of his life. We started with his first memory about three years old and worked our way up through school, baseball and World War II. He served in the Marines, in the Pacific Theater. He fought on Saipan, Tinian and Iwo Jima. He came home, started working, married Rita, raised six kids and did what he needed to do. We did not hear of what he did in the war. I do not know that we will ever hear all that occurred on those islands. I know enough that war is cruel, and horrible, and the worst that can be.

Jerry is challenged these days by diabetes, poor hearing, and recently has become legally blind. He keeps his routine as much as possible. He likes to read so his paperback and hardcover books from the library have been replaced by talking books. His newspaper has been replaced by a radio broadcast service that read the paper to him. Yet, when he gets up in the morning, he still walks out to the driveway to get the paper. A paper he really can't read.

The habits and routines that helped both Joe and Jerry survive are now creating some of their tough times. As much as we try to help them, they are set in their ways and won't listen. They made it before, they intend to make it now.

This Veterans Day is a great opportunity to just step back and say "Thanks for your service!"


This was originally posted to Steve's 2 Cents