I chose this day on purpse, a cold, wet & gray september morning to make this long overdo visit. I parked my car on the side of the road and grabbing my parasol to shield myself from any errant sprinkles ( or the sun should the skies part and begin to dry things up ) I began to walk across the field. The uncut grass was tall and as I slowly walked out my feet sank into the now saturated ground and my long dress dragged along behind me and I silently cursed my choice of 5in heeled boots but reminded myself that fashion over function is always the right thing. After a few minutes time I stopped and looked down to read the small square stone at my feet, William A Wingrove USMC it said, my father and his final resting place here in this military cemetery, all markers the same, neat, orderly in perfect row upon row and devoid of any individuality, just as he had lived his life.

I bent down and laid out a small towel I had brought with me to sit upon in the wet grass, I said hi to him and asked for his patience this day. We had not seen eye to eye about much during our lives together, he had his own ideas about who I was, how i should look, dress & act. He came from a time where people like myself were not accepted. I told him that even though he never would have accepted me and my choices in how I live my life that his wish for me to be strong was eventually realized, even if it was after his death that it finally came to be. We talked for awhile longer on this cold quiet morning about many things both good and bad and I even reminded him of my favorite joke of his in which he drew a chalk outline of a dead body on our sidewalk and used some catsup/ketchup to make a blood stain on the concrete and then watched people walking by our house stop and look horrified at what they were seeing heh.

After awhile I knew it was time to go, I stood up and straightened myself out, and gathered up the now very wet towel, I told him goodbye and reached down and laid upon his stone a small brass globe & anchor ( the usmc symbol ) As I walked back to my car stiill cursing the 5in heels I paused for a moment and turned back to him, "I love you" I said ( something not said to often between us in life ) and then we parted ways once again but I made a solemn vow to never let long periods of time pass between our visits as it has in the past... A promise I plan to honor.