Thank you. My dad served in the Navy his whole adult life, until he got sick overseas (had a bunch of tattoos, got some in Italy that gave him hepatitis, wound up with kidney and liver disease), so he was either gone for months at a time, or in the hospital—as I kid I remember thinking that was ‘normal’, so me and my siblings never really got to know him—plus the illnesses made him pretty mean and abusive, so after all the sickness it was a relief for us kids—as an adult I wish I could have known both parents before they were my parents, if that makes any sense. There’s no relatives left on my dad’s side (except a long lost aunt somewhere) so there’s an emptiness on that side of my family when I try to do genealogy projects.
What a tragic story. Am so sorry.