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It's Getting Dusty


ernest_t_bass

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When the soldiers return from Iraq/Afghanistan.

 

I was an army brat, dad only deployed once- to Somalia for 90 days.  Most of these soldiers are gone for 12 months, sometimes longer.

 

the reaction of the kids, or the dogs, seeing the returning soldier gets me...... every. single. time.

 

hell just thinking about that put a tear in my eye

Edited by AUS-97HORN
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As the owner of a big, fat, wonderful, best-dog-in-the-history-of-the-universe lab, this one gets me right in the gut, because I know that day will come one day, and I am that dog's best bud.  So I will be there when that day comes, as brutal as it will be.  Getting damn dusty just thinking about it.

 

  

 

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Hey dad wanna have a catch? 

Marley&me

My dog skip

When my 5 year old son does something great or just runs up when i get home and gives me a big hug. Also when talks about our dog we had lost 2 years ago.  He will say things like CJ is the best dog cause she loved me and i miss her, but she is in heaven now watching over me with papaw (my dad). He likes watching a video of my dad and he will sit there and play video over and over while he tells my dad in video about his day.

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My list includes, but is not limited to:

Lulaby from Children of Sanchez by Chuck Mangione - I would kill a midget to be able to write something that beautiful.

Butterfly Kisses by Bob Carlile - makes me miss my daughter when she was little and a daddy's girl, and deeply proud of the woman she has become.

Forever Young by Rod Stewart - makes me miss the awesome kid that my son was, and outrageously proud of the man that he now is.

Remembering my Mom holding my son when he was two weeks old and we visited for Christmas.  Her cancer had relapsed, and she didn't have long left.  She clutched him like he was life itself.  She passed away just before the next Valentine's Day.

O Holy Night anytime I hear it, Silent Night by candlelight on Christmas Eve, and Were You There in the darkened church on Good Friday.

Servicemen coming home after long deployments.

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15 hours ago, AUS-97HORN said:

When the soldiers return from Iraq/Afghanistan.

I was an army brat, dad only deployed once- to Somalia for 90 days.  Most of these soldiers are gone for 12 months, sometimes longer.

the reaction of the kids, or the dogs, seeing the returning soldier gets me...... every. single. time.

hell just thinking about that put a tear in my eye

Yeah, that's me. Son of a Marine. Right at the beginning of my junior year of high school in 1990, my dad woke me up at 4:00 a.m. to tell me he was being deployed to Desert Storm. It was one of a handful of times I ever saw the man cry.  He was gone about eight months, which only made being one of the new kids at school even harder.  While there were indeed casualties, it turned out the war was a major ass-kicking, due in part by the display of military technology and power the Department of Defense had been building up in the 1980s. But at the time, we saw our dad going to war, on a ship off the coast of Iraq with scud mussels aimed at him, and the real possibility he might not come back. 

So yeah, soldiers coming home to their kids gets me every time.

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Father in-law was pretty much bedridden for last couple years of his life.  Was on quite a few meds just to keep him breathing.  Last couple of months were particularly rough.  Anyway, our youngest son was probably 6 months old when the FIL passed.  During those last couple of months, you could see that it was a struggle to just keep breathing.  The only times that he was calm and seemed very content was when our youngest was sitting on his bed with him.  FIL really didn't communicate much, but when my son was sitting next to him on his bed, my FIL would just put his hand on the boys back and all was right in his world.  Yeah, he was my FIL, but he was a wonderful human being and loved his grandsons dearly. 

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On 4/11/2018 at 4:35 PM, Sbbruin said:

As the owner of a big, fat, wonderful, best-dog-in-the-history-of-the-universe lab, this one gets me right in the gut, because I know that day will come one day, and I am that dog's best bud.  So I will be there when that day comes, as brutal as it will be.  Getting damn dusty just thinking about it.

 

  

 

The only thing that helped me get through it was we had a really good relationship with our Vet.   The vet and his assistants cried.   But the Vet actually let me pull the trigger on the needle when I had to put Shiner down.   It was so hard to do.   He was licking my hand while I did it.   But that stomach and intestinal cancer got him in 2.5 weeks.    He was way better than that 

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One of my younger cousins was killed right at 6 years ago in a car wreck. They played Somewhere over the rainbow at the funeral. I usually break down the instant I hear it. Even a cover of it gets me.

I watch Scrubs about once a year or 18 months. There’s an episode where they play that song. I’ll lose it every time. The episode where Laverne has the wreck gets me too. As does the one where Brandon Frazier’s character dies.

Pretty much anything with my kids. Thinking about my little girl getting married one day really gets me.

Walking into my grandmothers house. She passed away last year. Just thinking about her makes me break down. We were really close. She used to tell everyone I was her youngest kid.

Had to be pallbearer for my best friends son after he hung himself last summer. Just thinking about all the times we had and that stuff is hard. Fuck you 2017.

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On ‎4‎/‎12‎/‎2018 at 7:09 AM, ernest_t_bass said:

My Little Girl - Tim McGraw... right in the feelz.

As the father of a now 11 year old daughter, this was released shortly before she was born.  Made me cry then thinking about how fast it would all go.  Still makes me tear up today when I hear it.  She has it on her Apple music account.  Every few weeks she'll come randomly sit on my lap and say she wants to listen to it with me.  Gets dusty every single time she does it.

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Lots of great stuff in here that I can relate to.  One that surprised me last week.  My son is 6.  He's learned to read and spell and we've started working with him more on the computer.  We have it child-protected so he can get on and go to sites like Disney Jr and Nick Jr and play around on them.  Among other random icons on the desktop, we have a couple of pdf pictures of my granddad.  A couple in his WWII uniform.  A couple of random ones from family get togethers.  Had put them together for a family tree type project for my older daughter's school last year.  I was incredibly close to him.  Lost him a couple of years ago but he and my son got close in the few years they knew each other.  I really didn't know how much my son remembered of him since granddad died when he was 4.  He and I were sitting on the couch watching an Astros game one night last week.  Out of the blue, my son turned to me during a commercial and said "daddy, do you know what I really do most of the time when I'm playing on the computer?"  First thought was, ah hell, where's this going?  I said no, can't say I do.  What do you do son?  He looked me straight in the eye and said "What I really like to do is sit there and open the pictures of granddad and talk to him."  I was absolutely floored.  Completely lost it.  Hell, I'm tearing up as I sit here and type this, remembering the conversation.  Kids huh.  I love you granddad.

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On ‎4‎/‎11‎/‎2018 at 4:35 PM, Sbbruin said:

As the owner of a big, fat, wonderful, best-dog-in-the-history-of-the-universe lab, this one gets me right in the gut, because I know that day will come one day, and I am that dog's best bud.  So I will be there when that day comes, as brutal as it will be.  Getting damn dusty just thinking about it.

 

  

 

As the father of the most incredible 9 year old yellow lab the world will ever know, and of a 15 month old black lab pup that is amazing, I can't even begin to let myself think of the day this arrives.  Have gone through it in the past, will go through it again many times in the future.  It sucks every single time and yet we get back up, dust our hearts off and open them right back up to the next most amazing 4 legged family member we welcome into our lives.  True, undying love.

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On ‎4‎/‎9‎/‎2018 at 10:34 AM, Brisketexan said:

If this doesn't just reach inside you and crush you every single damned time you hear it, I don't want to know you.  I mean that.  If this doesn't reach you that way, you probably aren't someone worth knowing.

 

 

 

Dammit Brisket!  I watch that series too.  My granddad wouldn't talk much about his time in WWII.  But he would talk to me about it for some reason.  Some of the most cherished memories I have of him.  The last decade or so before he died, we would take him across the country every 2 years to his bomber group reunion.  Sitting there talking to those men, listening to their stories, I can't even begin to explain the effect it had on all of the families there with them.

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On a bit more impersonal note, watching the lone bagpipe player walking down the first mist and dew covered first fairway after Payne Stewart was killed in the plane crash.  Had it on DVR for the longest time.  Will still occasionally pull it up on the interwebs and watch and remember one of my favorites, particularly around US Open time.

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Lots of great stuff in here that I can relate to.  One that surprised me last week.  My son is 6.  He's learned to read and spell and we've started working with him more on the computer.  We have it child-protected so he can get on and go to sites like Disney Jr and Nick Jr and play around on them.  Among other random icons on the desktop, we have a couple of pdf pictures of my granddad.  A couple in his WWII uniform.  A couple of random ones from family get togethers.  Had put them together for a family tree type project for my older daughter's school last year.  I was incredibly close to him.  Lost him a couple of years ago but he and my son got close in the few years they knew each other.  I really didn't know how much my son remembered of him since granddad died when he was 4.  He and I were sitting on the couch watching an Astros game one night last week.  Out of the blue, my son turned to me during a commercial and said "daddy, do you know what I really do most of the time when I'm playing on the computer?"  First thought was, ah hell, where's this going?  I said no, can't say I do.  What do you do son?  He looked me straight in the eye and said "What I really like to do is sit there and open the pictures of granddad and talk to him."  I was absolutely floored.  Completely lost it.  Hell, I'm tearing up as I sit here and type this, remembering the conversation.  Kids huh.  I love you granddad.

That’s fucking awesome. Seriously, gold.
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Lost my best friend over 15+ years ago, (my wife), in a car wreck, unknowing of how to raise our daughter I gave it my best shot as a single dad... The years have gradually krept by but I still haven't lost the feeling that she was the one for me, there have even been times when women were flirtatious and for some reason I still felt that I was doing wrong...

Anyway, my daughter graduated school & took my advice & took studies in the medical field for a trade, while she prepares to begin college this fall once we move to Phoenix...

I know eventually that I must move on, but in my heart, if I never find another woman to care for, I'll be alright in knowing I had the best woman I could ever ask of God already..!

 14237485_1176320622447113_80201492546613

14330111_1176320605780448_91669705957473

 

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Visiting the Viet Nam memorial and finding the names of my friends, as well as those other 50K+ who gave all.  Now at 65, I cry excessively when wondering what their lives would have been like and am grateful for the life I still enjoy.

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That damn part at the end of Armageddon where they are coming home from the asteroid and Chick looks around to see that everyone has loved ones welcoming them home and he has no one. Then his estranged son comes up and hugs him, no idea why but that part gets me every time.


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On 4/9/2018 at 1:23 PM, phdhorn said:

Probably the leader in my clubhouse.  Just a beautiful movie all around by/about a PHENOMENAL penman.

 

I remember tearing up during that movie.  My wife looked at me, shocked and asked, "Is this really getting to you?!?!?"

We had a Jack Russell Terrier puppy at the time.  I think she had already eaten 6 pairs of my shoes, our coffee table, and burrowed through the center cushion of our leather coach in the den.  I looked at her and said, "Did you hear that??? They can live past 20 years old!"

She made it to 16+.

RIP my sweet daughter, Josey Wales.

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On 4/14/2018 at 9:11 AM, kopp0e said:

Lost my best friend over 15+ years ago, (my wife), in a car wreck, unknowing of how to raise our daughter I gave it my best shot as a single dad... The years have gradually krept by but I still haven't lost the feeling that she was the one for me, there have even been times when women were flirtatious and for some reason I still felt that I was doing wrong...

Anyway, my daughter graduated school & took my advice & took studies in the medical field for a trade, while she prepares to begin college this fall once we move to Phoenix...

I know eventually that I must move on, but in my heart, if I never find another woman to care for, I'll be alright in knowing I had the best woman I could ever ask of God already..!

 14237485_1176320622447113_80201492546613

14330111_1176320605780448_91669705957473

 

Bless you brother.  I can't imagine the pain of loss and the challenges you have faced.  Just keep moving forward.  Hang in there.

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We lost our goldendoodle, Lucy, about a month ago. She was a seemingly healthy, 7 year old with no signs of major medical issues. We were visiting some family and had just arrived at their house on beautiful Sunday morning. Lucy ran around saying hi to everyone in the front yard and then all of a sudden ran back to my feet and collapsed. She was dead within 2 minutes. Just had a massive heart attack and that was it. She was every bit my dog and buddy. She and I were always together.

There is a lamp in our house, near the spot her food and water ball sat. The night we got home after losing her, I went over to turn that lamp on and it visibly flickered for a second and then came on. It took me by surprise because the lamp had never done that before in the hundreds of times I had turned it on. A few days later, we received her cremated remains. That night I turned on the  same lamp and the bulb flickered and died. I lost it then and I still get some dust in my eyes from time to time when I go to that lamp. 

It's a fresh loss, so I'm sure it gets better with time, but I have a hard time seeing anything related to a dog being hurt / lost / etc. 

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One of my good friends from high school died of a heroin overdose in 2009, at the age of 18. He really was a good kid from a great family that just made some bad choices. He tried to straighten his life out by joining the marines, but it only made his problem worse. His death really tore up his family, especially his dad. His parents made a memorial garden for him in their backyard. In the middle of it there’s a stone with the inscription: “If love could have saved you, you would have lived forever.”

 

I still think about him often, about how life would be different for his family & friends if he was still here. 

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At my last duty location we had a trophy case. Pretty typical as far as Army standards, captured weapons, model equipment, unit awards. One thing in particular made me a avoid the hallway it was in like the fucking plague. An 8x10 photo of a little blonde haired boy, wearing a suit bought for the occasion never to be worn again, hugging the flagged draped casket of his father, the pain on his face as visible as these words. I knew the guy in the way you know lots of Soldiers, shared friends, shared duty locations, shared hardships. I was saddened by his loss but considered it part of the job (that happens to other guys).  But the first time I saw that picture it cut through me like a knife. I’ve been out of that unit for years and haven’t laid eyes on that picture in even longer but I can recall every detail as if I was holding it in my hand. Fuck these allergies and fuck the PAO that took that photo. 

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41 minutes ago, O1E said:

At my last duty location we had a trophy case. Pretty typical as far as Army standards, captured weapons, model equipment, unit awards. One thing in particular made me a avoid the hallway it was in like the fucking plague. An 8x10 photo of a little blonde haired boy, wearing a suit bought for the occasion never to be worn again, hugging the flagged draped casket of his father, the pain on his face as visible as these words. I knew the guy in the way you know lots of Soldiers, shared friends, shared duty locations, shared hardships. I was saddened by his loss but considered it part of the job (that happens to other guys).  But the first time I saw that picture it cut through me like a knife. I’ve been out of that unit for years and haven’t laid eyes on that picture in even longer but I can recall every detail as if I was holding it in my hand. Fuck these allergies and fuck the PAO that took that photo. 

Thank you for your service to this nation, it is truly an honor to tell you that for all that you've contributed to keeping us free 7 safe, hasn't went unnoticed...

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Some of you know that my 23 year old daughter died in October 2016 after fighting eating disorders for 7 years.

This past week, I was going through an old box and found the last Christmas card she wrote to me. It ends like this: "You gave me the best present I could ask for - a second chance at life. We've gone through so much together, good and bad, happy and sad, and we're still closer than ever. I'm so proud to be your daughter and so grateful that we're practically twins! Always remember that I love to the moon and back. I love you daddy. Your knucklehead Morgan."

Hole in the Heart that will never be filled.  Hug your kids Gentlemen.  Hug your kids.

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Lid, your story really got to me when you originally posted it.  Someone I knew in college just posted on FB that she lost her HS aged son.  No details, but I think it was drugs.  There is no pain I can imagine greater than the loss of a child.  I hope you continue to find strength.  I hug my kids every day.  To the point they get annoyed.  Well too damn bad.

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you know what gets me upset the most  - physical disabilities. i don't get dusty per say but i get really upset. driving around town and seeing a homeless guy in a wheel chair >>>> than just seeing a homeless guy. it just seems to incredibly unfair to me. 

its illogical obviously as there are many unfair problems that we all have. weird. anyway, good luck and stay dusty my friends

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On 4/9/2018 at 1:23 PM, phdhorn said:

Probably the leader in my clubhouse.  Just a beautiful movie all around by/about a PHENOMENAL penman.

 

Yep, my childhood dog died in the bushes, by himself. Still kills me to this day I wasn't there with him. That guy got me through it, let me tell you....

RIP Shotgun, fastest dachshund in Texas

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On 4/14/2018 at 9:00 AM, lonestarsooner said:

Lots of great stuff in here that I can relate to.  One that surprised me last week.  My son is 6.  He's learned to read and spell and we've started working with him more on the computer.  We have it child-protected so he can get on and go to sites like Disney Jr and Nick Jr and play around on them.  Among other random icons on the desktop, we have a couple of pdf pictures of my granddad.  A couple in his WWII uniform.  A couple of random ones from family get togethers.  Had put them together for a family tree type project for my older daughter's school last year.  I was incredibly close to him.  Lost him a couple of years ago but he and my son got close in the few years they knew each other.  I really didn't know how much my son remembered of him since granddad died when he was 4.  He and I were sitting on the couch watching an Astros game one night last week.  Out of the blue, my son turned to me during a commercial and said "daddy, do you know what I really do most of the time when I'm playing on the computer?"  First thought was, ah hell, where's this going?  I said no, can't say I do.  What do you do son?  He looked me straight in the eye and said "What I really like to do is sit there and open the pictures of granddad and talk to him."  I was absolutely floored.  Completely lost it.  Hell, I'm tearing up as I sit here and type this, remembering the conversation.  Kids huh.  I love you granddad.

Wow, got a little choked up just reading this at my desk. 

The IZ cover of somewhere over the rainbow always gets me also. My neighbors kid died in a car accident when I was living in Mexico. He didn't know much english but that song he played every day before he would walk to school loud as hell. I felt like shit after because I would gripe about it to myself but after he died I missed the hell out of those morning songs. Man tearing up now just thinking about it

 

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  • 2 weeks later...

Most of yall know my Daughter is a Sergeant in the Army. When she left for Basic she took a bus from downtown Dallas. She looked so young.  I dropped her off and cried the entire 45 minute drive back to my work. Same thing when she was deployed to S. Korea.

The time that really got me though is I got married about 9 months ago. I asked her to be my best man. We got to the church and we were both wearing jeans and t shirt. We went to go change and when she came back in she was dressed in her Army Blues. She looked so old and mature. It was amazing. 

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