In Memoriam
Lieutenant Anthony F. Stratman USN, June 13, 1922 to November 25, 2019.
Husband, Father, Veteran, Caregiver, Man of Faith, Integrity, Honor; 97 revolutions around the Sun. I am proud to be his Son. Thank you, Dad and Mom, for giving me Life. I am so thankful.
Dear Reader, It has been two weeks since my last post. That was on a Monday morning and that evening my father passed in a hospital in Columbus, Ohio. Two of my brothers were with him as the oxygen was stopped and he passed peacefully. He was one of the “Greatest Generation as Tom Brokaw’s book so elegantly described their lives and the sacrifices they made with integrity, honor, and love. Since that time Deb and I drove to Columbus, OH for his funeral and burial. It was a cold , clear day at the gravesite, last Wednesday in Columbus. Dad was sent off with an honor guard as he was a WWII veteran. When that sailor was blowing taps with that shiny chrome bugle and my brother was accepting his flag, I fell apart. The tears were streaming down my face as Deb held me tight around my waist. She is always so good in these types of “present” circumstances. In the following days, she needed to be reminded of where we were and why we were there. And that’s OK.
Dear Reader, I guess I am still grieving as my brain moves to past memories of Dad and my family. I really had to push myself early this morning to start to get back into my self-care routines. Up at 6:15AM, after a cup of coffee, I turned on some nature sounds ( rain, wind in the forest) and did my S & B for 40 minutes. (Stretching and Breathing). My brain was telling me that I just didn’t have time for this writing. I have a very long “To-Do list”. I just let that thought pass and sat down at this computer and started writing. This is called “being unreasonable”. It is a very necessary “way of being” each and every day as a caregiver. I guess I am depressed. This too shall pass.
I will leave you with a small anecdote from our long journey north last week.
December 2, 2019 Driving to Columbus, OH today I was thinking about my youth. As I was approaching the Atlanta, GA traffic scene on I-75 north, my brain brought up the album Chicago II. It was released in Jan 1970. I was 16 yrs old and it was a 2 record set. Their sound was so groundbreaking…rock/jazz/classical fusion. The harmonic brass, with the keyboard and lead guitar. The lyrics were so right on for the time. The anti-war movement was in full gear. And I would crank it up on the turnstile and the big floor speaker we had in the basement. I remember my father standing at the top of the stairs shouting down, “TURN THAT DAMN THING DOWN!… In the car, listening to this album, with Deb and I singing the lyrics, we breezed through that traffic. It seemed like yesterday. The sweet memories of times and places that music brings us….
Thank you for listening Dear Reader. Just be Kind.