Lost and Found
The biggest loss in my life happened nearly 26 years ago. My parents were divorced, when I was 3. My parents both remarried. I lived with my Mom in Minnesota and my Dad lived in Washington State. Only one time did I have a chance to see my Dad and that was in my early twenty’s, otherwise we kept in touch by phone.
Then in 1977 my father’s second wife passed on, and my Dad, an alcoholic, hit the bottle hard. He lost everything, his home and all. Then he disappeared off the face of the earth. None of his or my family knew where he went.
Over the years, I have hired detectives and skip-tracers to try to find him. I called the Veterans Administration, (he is a world war 2 Vet.) and his former employer, Boise Cascade no one would tell me any information. I even called all the nursing homes in the area he used to live. No information on his whereabouts was ever uncovered except that he was cashing his Social Security checks monthly.
Four days ago, a cousin doing a genealogy of my fathers’ family happened to call a VA clinic and someone there acknowledged that he was a patient of theirs. They obtained his permission to let his phone number and address be given out to this family member. This information was passed on to his sister and to me.
On Monday of this week, and for the first time in nearly 26 years I spoke to my father, what a fantastic day this was.

God does answer prayers.

Daddy's Little Girl

Daddy’s little girl
Was lost in time and space
Divorce and alcohol visited
And she was gone
With the winds
Changes sent her
Adrift on a raft
In a sea undulating
Abandoned to
Loves disappointments
Years of losses
Family ties unbound
And unfurled in cold
Breezes
The in a sudden
Burst
The sunlight pierced
The storms of gray
And Daddy’s girl
Sees safe haven
Once again,
She found her
Home shores