My Dad

This time 14 years ago my Dad suffered what was to be a life ending stroke....he was in a coma for a week and passed away on Dec. 15th.  Here is a tiny photo of him I found during his service in WWII--he served his time mostly in France.  
   I flew back "home" to Cleveland, Ohio  upon hearing the news of his stroke...but he never "woke" up again and so my goodbyes were said to him while he lay in his coma . It was such a difficult time, but I have never regretted being able to say these goodbyes and talk to him even thought he never awoke.  I was able to thank him for all he did and all his love....being there to say these goodbyes was a luxury I didn't have when my mom had passed just a few weeks prior to his death.  So I know that this was a precious time for me to be back there to say goodbye to him.  
  Consequently, having lost both of my parents during the holiday time 14 years ago makes the holidays even more difficult for me and tradtions done with them even more important to me.  It was my dad who always got our tree in my childhood--we never did this as a family , but he always got one he knew my mom would love to decorate.  Now I love to get the tree and to decorate as they did.  I hope this qualitfys for a tiny tuesday entry as it's a very tiny original photo taken by an unknown fellow soldier most likely.  I scanned it.  
  Tree and holiday backblips here