My beloved father taught me to aim high and never give up. Over and over as a child and on into adulthood, my father would say to me, “You can be whatever you want to be. Just set your mind to it. You can accomplish it. Aim high and then do what you need to do to accomplish that goal.”
He would then sometimes ask me, “What do you want to be when you grow up?” As a child, what I wanted to be could vary according to what captured my attention on any particular day. In May of 1961 Alan Shepard went into space in an astounding 15-minute flight which was called by the people "Freedom 7.” All of America was watching, including my family. It was around this time that my father again spoke with me about what I wanted to accomplish – what I wanted to ‘be’ when I grew up. Somehow the possibility of astronaut came up. My older brother scoffed at the idea, saying “You can’t do that – you are a girl.” My father quickly admonished by brother and made sure I heard and understood by reiterating, “You can accomplish and ‘be’ anything you want to be. Being a girl does not limit you. You can accomplish whatever you set your mind to accomplish.”
My father gave me the gift of powerful support to accomplish goals and head into the direction of my heart. He never tried to limit my direction of inquiry. We would talk science. We would talk philosophy and world religions. We would talk of our life of spirit, our relationship to the Divine Beloved. Mystical in basic nature and relationship to the world my father gave to me so much goodness.
Indeed, I have accomplished every goal I have set thus far. Even today, I continue to move in the direction of my true heart. My dear father has played a tremendous role in the creation of good in this life.
There are no adequate words to express my deep gratitude for and to the man I was blessed to call Daddy.
Happy Father’s day
to my soul friend
– my daddy.
☀️🦋☀️The image is of one of my father’s favorite prints. He always said he felt it looked like him. He had been a sailor for many years of his life; first for a term in the Navy and then a career in the Coast Guard. When he looked at this image, he felt it was Victoria holding his hands, Crystal at his left shoulder and Starr at his right shoulder. (My 3 daughters, his 3 granddaughters).
☀️🦋
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