Moving turns up boxes of old photos. My mom recently moved back east and here’s what turned up, old photos of my father. He should have been a model. He was 6’4″ and all smiles. He never had even one cavity in those perfectly shaped teeth. Lucky guy. Click on any image to see Pops bigger.

I can see myself in the first one (top left). I have the same thing he does with the half smile too. The last image was taken while he was in the Airforce at Edward’s Airforce Base. He was stationed across the continent from home (Long Island, NY) in a weird place called the Mojave Desert. Years later my mom would move to Los Angeles and my step dad would raise me in that very desert.

My father died in 2005 of cancer. What I remember most about him is how his eyes lit up with pride when he looked at me and my siblings, and how much he loved my spunk. He really did encourage me to be a fiercely strong little lady. He delighted in my strong opinions, smiling from ear to ear as he “paid up” when I “beat him” in a bet. Yeah, he spoiled me a bit. Mostly, I liked how his eyes lit up when he looked at me.