A Letter to Daniel

I haven't posted anything in awhile. I am currently working on another writing project and haven;t taken time to write something fresh here. However, I found in my computer files a letter I wrote to Daniel two days after he left for boot camp in Great Lakes, Illinois. There's nothing special about it. Just words from a father to a son who he already misses dearly. I may post more of these letters later but I'm not certain. 
September 13, 2003

Dear Daniel,

I decided to write you, even though I do not yet have your address. I hope we get it soon!

Today is Saturday. There is nothing special to report. The phone call from you last Thursday was short and not what I wanted. I wanted to chat awhile; hear how your flight was; if you like your roomies; if you got the top, middle or lower bunk, etc. You know the stuff Dads want to hear. I am sure that is how it was for all of you though. 

I hope all is good and that you are doing well. I hope you are pumped up and are glad you went in. This will be good for you I keep telling myself. But, I miss you. This experience will be good for both of us.

I am going back to Juvenile on Monday. I dread it more each day. However, it will, most likely, not be all that bad. Some good things are that I will be closer to home, be able to see my old friends more (McKee, Paul Luera and Seth Goldstein) and perhaps have more freedom to get out of the office. 

Heather is moving into your old room. I think she waited about 17 seconds after you left to start the move. Well, maybe a bit longer than that, but not by much.

My fellow PO and good friend, Bart Sloan, has been very interested in your going in. He is former military (Army?) and a very patriotic American. He asked if he could write to you and I said “sure”. He said he wants to send you something but did not elaborate. I will give him your address soon as I get it.

Grandma and Grandpa came to visit us this evening. They are on their MMAP trip and drove down to see one of his friends in Sacramento and then went to see Barbara, Melinda and Adrian. They got here about 8:18 p.m. and will spend the night, then go to church with us tomorrow. We are going to Crossroads to check it out.

Well, I will close for now. I will probably write another letter or two before I finally get your new address. So, will stop for now. I love you. Take care. Write back if you can. If you send a general information letter to one of us (Faddis’), then we can share it with the others. I would guess that you will write to Liz separately from us. OK. Later.

Love,



Comments

John Haak said…
Hey Stan,

Being a dad with my own "Daniel" I sure agreed with so much that your wrote. What a burden you must carry together as a couple? Thanks again for opening up your mind and heart.
August 8, 2013 at 12:25 PM
Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

A Sample Court Report

I have felt like writing lately so I will continue to do so. After yesterday's post regarding my early life, I thought some of you might like to know a bit about what I did as a vocation. I have received a number of compliments regarding my writing ability for which I am grateful. Most people do not know that for many years as a Probation Officer, I wrote reports for the Court. In this job I got a lot of practice as an "Indentured Wordsmith." The following is a fictional account of one such report. The defendant in this case was convicted of attempted robbery. In addition to all the other information required by the Court, the reports I wrote contained information resulting from my own investigation including my interviews of the victim and defendant. Most of the report is who, what, why, where and how, but in the evaluation section, I got to throw in my opinion about what consequences the guy should get. Keep in mind, the defendant had already been convicted which inc
Read more

The Driver

After church this morning I was approached in the foyer by a young man I calculated to be in his mid-thirties. He said he was a visitor and his name was Mike. I learned he is the son-in-law of one of the churches elders and I reckon I was pointed out by someone so he came over to talk to me. Mike said,” I really like reading your blog.” He said it makes him laugh and cry and that some of it is entertaining. Mike mentioned a couple of the entries, one of which included the one about Rick Criscione and I going to Mario’s. He went on to say he hopes I’ll continue to write it. I told him that as long as I can think of things to write about, I will do so. His encouragement has led me to write today’s entry. Back in the summer of 1978, I bought a car from my mother’s friends for $300 and it was one of the coolest rides I have ever owned. It was a 1964 Chrysler New Yorker and somewhere along the way one of my friends dubbed it the “Stanmobile.” To this day, whenever someone talks about tha
Read more
After I retired last year I quickly found myself sitting around with nothing to do. I was bored and unmotivated to find stuff to occupy my time. I watched a lot of TV and surfed the web. Well, I thought that was bad, but this past couple of days have been even worse. I am lethargic and practically non-ambulatory. I realize this is not healthy but I don’t really care. Some friends have tried to get me to go out and do something active but I always decline. I’ve missed the past five weeks of church because I don’t want to face people right now. I’m not ready to take on the next wave of sympathy from those I have not seen face to face since Daniel died. I want to be a hermit right now. I can hear Daniel saying, with that little smirk on his face that indicated he was half kidding me, “Hey, Old Man, why are you letting this get to you so much? Suck it up and move on.” My answer to him would be something like, “Because it’s how I want to be right now and I’ll suck it up when I’m good and
Read more