Today is my dad’s 87th birthday. It is also the day that my nephew graduated from Navy boot camp. A few months ago, my dad found a picture of his father exactly 100 years ago at the same base where my nephew was. It all came together in perfect circumstances. My dad planned on attending the graduation. Unfortunately, he came down with a nasty virus. He saw the doctor the other day to make sure it wasn’t anything too serious and was doing his best to try to knock it out. However, the coughing, sore throat, and general run down feeling made him feel too bad to travel. We were all very sad about that. But, we got up early and got our computers linked up to the live feed of the graduation. My parents wore ribbons that my sister had purchased for the occasion. It was a beautiful and moving ceremony even though we were not able to pick out my nephew in the sea of new sailors. Actually, my sisters who attended were not able to locate him either. At the end of the celebration, my nephew got to spend the day with his mom and my other sister. We were very happy to get a video call from them so we could see our new sailor in person – more or less. He was beaming and clearly proud of himself for his accomplishment. His voice was strong and confident. We could see the excitement as he talked about his future – both near and far. Of course, we are all very proud of him and I got a little teary several times during the day. The whole event was quite a gift for my dad.

I Found God today celebrating my dad’s birthday and nephew’s boot camp graduation.