**Giggles!**

Being an adopted child means all the world to me. That means I was blessed twice over, first for the gift of life and then secondly, and most important of all, was to be chosen to this fantastic family. While I try to make sure I speak well of both Mom and Pop, Pop was very much like a mixture of Gibbs from NCIS and Steve Rogers, also known as Captain America from Marvel Comics, and just a touch of the Batman for that extra allure. Pop came from an unspoken father who left his mother when he was born and then later, the man who he would call Pop too, took his life when the gentleman found out that he had cancer, done in with his service revolver. Pop was the one who found him ... Later Pop would enlist into the Navy for a good chunk of his adult life and marry Mom and have my Big Sister. I would come along in the early 1970s, but I honest to God do NOT remember my family before the family now, if that makes sense. Mom, Pop, and my Big Sister are and were the only family I needed. However, like most families, we had our problems. If you have been keeping up with me since I started creating journals and posting stuff, you probably know the story of me finding out I was adopted. My Big Sister, in a pique of rage, told me that Mom and Pop ought to trade me back to K-Mart for a better kid since I was adopted there thanks to the "magical blue light special!" Oh, how upset I was! Pop went after my Big Sister for that ... imagine Godzilla hitting Tokyo after coming out of the ocean ... oh yes! It was ugly like a Rollingstones group photo!

And that's just one of the wild stories told about Pop!

Pop and the MGB full of cats ... and Pop vs The Boyfriend! are two other good stories too. But they are all told with love by yours truly. Pop was a gentle man most of the time, though he did serve with extra distinction when keeping an eye on Mom when she was out signing her Historical Romances at various booksellers. Oh yes, Mom hit Walden Book Sellers's best seller's list a number of times too, so she was very popular ... and a local star too!

Israfel Vincent, Taffy as she was nicknamed by her Pop and known to friends too, have larger than life parents too. Her father, like mine, served as a Naval pilot and then became a Marine as well, while earning extra distinction fighting Nazis in World War II with her Mom as well. Her mother, a decorated Colonel in the Airforce, was originally a librarian and then later an archeologist before the war. She signed up too, but into the Airforce, and fought along side her later-to-be husband against the Axis Alliance. Later, they would have adventures throughout the world, often dealing with pockets of Nazi sympathizers and other people of like minded thinkers, saving the world many times as well. Now, while for Taffy, her mother is still around, no one knows where her father is ... even her mother has no clue.

So, like me, Taffy tries to remember her father with the greatest of memories and of honor too.

This was an extra special "Thank you!" from my good friend and fantastic artist,  Narwhal_Iv

Thank you for the extra, honey!