In the beginning this sounded absurd to me but somehow I keep seeing it.
My father left my mother and I when I was 7 years old. He came down to California to visit me when I was about 9 and I would say contact between myself and him ended when I was 10.
When I was about 15 years old I remember playing out side and seeing a yellow old Bonneville drive up the road and turn into an apartment complex across the street. The man in this car was my father. I hadn’t seen him for five years nor have I heard from him. I remember sending him pictures and they would get sent back due to him moving without telling anyone.
A few months later I recalled seeing him at the grocery store again in an old Bonneville. I asked my mother what she thought about it and she said that she remembers Jim, my step dad, who used to see his late wife around.
This occurrence stopped for about three years. I moved to Washington state, where I was born and lived with my mother and father before. I saw him again when I was out in Seattle at a snow show. He died six months later of cancer and I went to his funeral.
About a year later, I was at MCT just after completing Marine Corps Boot Camp and I was sitting on post about 3 am and I remember hearing my dad talking to me saying how proud he was of me since I never got a chance to tell him that I enlisted in the Marine Corps. The next day I remembered talking to him and wasn’t sure if it was just my sleep deprivation driving me insane or not.
Two years later I was in the hospital having my son and they said that he might not make it, I prayed that he would and cried because my father wasn’t there to see his grandchild be born with my dad’s middle name as my son’s first name. He was born three weeks early but healthy as can be.
I talk to my dad occasionally although I don’t see any of my other family members. One night I was watching a meteor shower and I could hear the words saying every star is how much I think of you. I now have six stars tattooed over my left shoulder to remind me that my father is watching over me as we speak.
Written by Vanessa Goodenough, Copyright 2010