Dad, Ben, and Josh

Two of the men I most admire happen to be my father and Ben, my oldest son.

Dad, me, Ben, and Josh, Tennessee, 2022.

First born son of the first born son of the first born son of the first born son

They live about 1500 miles from each other and don't get to spend much time together but we all got together this week at my son's home in Tennessee. Our boat was in the shop so we didn't get to water ski but we spent a few days hiking through the forest, roasting marshmallows over the fire, skinny dipping in the river, and dancing to old Buddy Holly music.

At one point we packed up the fishing poles and carried the coolers and the folding chairs to the truck to head back to Ben's house. We were almost done when I looked down to the river bank and saw Ben and Dad so deep in conversation they hadn't even noticed us packing up our fishing camp around them. I'm not sure why that made me so happy but it did. It's like introducing a friend to a favorite piece of music and seeing they love it as much as you do - it just feels right.

I often think about Ben's four boys - my grandsons - Joshie, Kenny, Levi, and Timmy. I think about the intelligence, the work ethic, and the integrity they inherit, and I expect them to change the world when they come of age. I just don't know how.

My path in life has been different from my father's, and Ben's has been different from mine. We haven't tried to follow in each others' footsteps. I think that's a good thing. We've each followed our own moral compass, made our own choices, and faced the consequences of our own decisions, and through our different trials we've each emerged with love in our hearts, strength in our characters, and happiness in our lives.

Josh is a week away from turning seven. He's still too young to understand or appreciate the inheritance he's getting. He doesn't understand his great, great grandfather was a Marine, his great grandfather was an Airman, his grandfather was a police officer, and his uncle was a Soldier. He doesn't understand it yet he inherits the courage it takes to do the dangerous work of keeping his neighbors safe.

He'll grow up in a family where men do their duty.

Josh's parents have been married eight years. His grandparents have been married 30 years. His great grandparents have been married 55 years. I don't think he'll be the type to go out for cigarettes and not come back. It's not in his birthright and it's not the example he's seen.

I'm back in Texas now. Got back late last night. My back is sore, my eyes are sore, there was a tick on my shin this morning, and I have a sore throat but I'm feeling fantastic. Spending time with my family in the beauty of nature always does that to me.

I don't want to alarm anybody but my vision is noticeably worse this morning than it was before the trip. I'm writing in a large font and my browser is up to 300% magnification but I struggle to read what I'm writing. I usually have to bump up the magnification by 25% once every week or two but this is a bump of 50% in just five days and it still doesn't seem like enough. The loss of vision seems to be accelerating, but if the last things in life I get to see are my parents and my grandchildren skipping rocks across the river, I've seen enough goodness and beauty.

p.s. Rumster, if you want the next photo cropped by someone who isn't blind, get me an editor =)