Today I was thinking of another great connection Daniel and I shared. There were certain TV shows and movies that we liked to watch. If we couldn’t watch them together, we talked about them later by telephone. Some of our favorites were Southland, Boardwalk Empire, Homeland and Band of Brothers. There were others that he liked and I didn’t such as House and South Park. I liked Lost and Friday Night Lights but he didn’t. There were certain movies that we agreed to only see together the first time and often we went to the first showing available on opening day. These included Saving Private Ryan, Shooter, Four Brothers and Gladiator. The last movie we saw together was Warrior. We were both Mark Wahlberg fans.
We enjoyed discussing the movie or TV episode and the great characters that the writers had created. We both liked the character John Cooper (played by Michael Cudlitz) in Southland a lot. He also portrayed Sgt. Denver “Bull” Randleman in Band of Brothers. This is a simple connection we had but I will always treasure it. It gives me something to hold on to about him and me.
I will also hold on to one trip we took when Daniel was about 13. My brother Jeff, Daniel and I went to Sitka, Alaska to fish on my friend’s salmon boat. We flew from San Jose to Juneau and took the ferry to Sitka. We caught fish until we were too tired to reel them in. We flew back to San Jose a week later. Each of us brought back a 70 box of salmon and halibut fillets that were vacuum packed and flash frozen. It was the greatest trip the three of us ever took together.
I cannot think of the Alaska trip without remembering that in 2000 our family of six (Linda, Daniel, Heather, Holly, Meagan and I) went to Maui for 11 days. On about the fifth day there, we went to Big Beach where Daniel, Heather and I boogie boarded. I got slammed into the beach by a huge wave and fractured six ribs and punctured my lung. This earned me a 13 day stay in the hospital on Maui. I remember sitting on the beach in excruciating pain, waiting for the rescue workers to arrive. My 16 year old son with tears streaming down his face looked into my eyes and said, “Dad, I love you so much and I don’t want to lose you!” What a beautiful thing to hear from a child. It’s a memory I will always cherish.
We enjoyed discussing the movie or TV episode and the great characters that the writers had created. We both liked the character John Cooper (played by Michael Cudlitz) in Southland a lot. He also portrayed Sgt. Denver “Bull” Randleman in Band of Brothers. This is a simple connection we had but I will always treasure it. It gives me something to hold on to about him and me.
I will also hold on to one trip we took when Daniel was about 13. My brother Jeff, Daniel and I went to Sitka, Alaska to fish on my friend’s salmon boat. We flew from San Jose to Juneau and took the ferry to Sitka. We caught fish until we were too tired to reel them in. We flew back to San Jose a week later. Each of us brought back a 70 box of salmon and halibut fillets that were vacuum packed and flash frozen. It was the greatest trip the three of us ever took together.
I cannot think of the Alaska trip without remembering that in 2000 our family of six (Linda, Daniel, Heather, Holly, Meagan and I) went to Maui for 11 days. On about the fifth day there, we went to Big Beach where Daniel, Heather and I boogie boarded. I got slammed into the beach by a huge wave and fractured six ribs and punctured my lung. This earned me a 13 day stay in the hospital on Maui. I remember sitting on the beach in excruciating pain, waiting for the rescue workers to arrive. My 16 year old son with tears streaming down his face looked into my eyes and said, “Dad, I love you so much and I don’t want to lose you!” What a beautiful thing to hear from a child. It’s a memory I will always cherish.
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