**Giggles!**

Once again, thanks for Being patient and so supportive of me. Oh, yes ... and I'm still in the process of posting stuff here, whether it be my work or commissioned works ...

This one is a very special commission that I got my good friend,  kurama-chan to do for me! And ohmygawd! She did it super-fast! Gang, I'm telling you that she is worth more than what she charges. If you want to commission someone super-good, talk to her! :heart:

Taffy's Pop flys her about in his safe grip with her bright and smiling face giggling down at him, a promise being made to become a pilot to which makes her father so very happy! "Let's not tell your mother just yet," Vincent Verdeschi suggests to his little daughter. "You need to fly like an eagle!" Taffy squeals happily as she soars high ... so young and free! :heart:

This one deserves some explanation. Back in the mid-seventies, Pop had all of us moved out to Lexington Park, Maryland ... off of a little street known as Sunrise Drive, I believe the name of the street was. It was a three story, white and red house with a white fence around the massive yard.

... And Pop was stationed out of Pax River for the last three or four years of his naval career. A few times, if I was good, he would take me out to the base and let me hang out with the guys who treated me super nice. Often I got to watch them play cards, Poker I'm guessing, and even allowed to see some of the stuff they had there ... oh, nothing top secret, mind, just things like the air craft they tested and flew. Mostly the P3 Orions, the Navy's submarine hunters. Pop was part of the Looney Tunes Squadron and his plane was "The Road Runner", an awesome plane as far as I was concerned. One of the last things he did for me before we left Maryland was to get me a flight helmut with the sun visor, all of the special decals, and my name on it. Gawd, I was so excited to have that! And you had better believe that I wore that all over the place ... I wanted to be a pilot just like Pop. Mom kept my feet on the ground, telling me that she would think about it. But Pop would just smile.

My Pop passed the top of this month three years ago. I always thought I had done some damage to my folks and my relationship due to all of the work I had to put into to become the person I am today. I wasn't a teacher any more thanks to the disenchantment of the system and I failed out of SCAD (Savannah College of Art and Design) years later. But, my Big Sister told me of one night where she and he got drunk together, talking about the future of the family and his kids, grandkids, and great grandkids. He spent about an hour talking about how proud he was of me ... but he never told me. "He was so very proud of you," my Big Sister said. "You never give up. You always look for the best in people." While he never said this to me, I know damned well that it wouldn't have been him to say anything like this to me. It just wasn't him. Mom, certainly.

The picture above represents how I remember him and these happy and very idyllic times. He was perhaps in his mid-thirties back then, having served the US for almost twenty years. I'm very fortunate to have been his kid ... thank you, Pop!