Who I am.

A guy who goes by Old Soldier tagged me with one of those meme things about a week ago. This hasn't happened in a while and it's a doozy. Here's the jist of it...

1. Write your own six word memoir.

2. Post it on your blog and include a visual illustration if you want.

3. Link to the person that tagged you in your post and to the original post if possible so we can track it as travels across the blogosphere.

4. Tag at least five more blogs with links.

5. Leave a comment on the tagged blogs with an invitation to play.

I've had a hell of a time, being naturally long winded, trying to figure out something that would really say who I am. There's a temptation to be flippant, or melodramatic, or just come up with something silly because the task a daunting one. How do I come up with a short statement that says so much without saying anything? In the end though it finally hit me.

Those of you who know me, who've been reading this stuff for a while, will probably see this coming. Here it is. Six words. I've even got a picture. Drum roll please...

I've been carryin' this dog tag around since I found it in my folks strong box when I was a kid. It's been on my key ring since I was in high school. It was issued to me when the family flew back to England in 1966 for a three year tour of duty. It was my first trip over. We all got two of them. The other one's around here somewhere. I've realized through the years of looking at it and carrying it around that it says just about everything there is to say about me, for good or ill.

Dad made me who I am, one way or the other. The choices he made in his life both opened up the world to me and showed me the kind of man I didn't want to be. I'm who I am because of him. Of course, I'm not finished becoming me. I'm still workin' out the details of who I am. I'll probably never really get it done to my own satisfaction. Maybe that's from daddy too. He continues to influence me. He always will.

So here you go. Six words... "Basically, I'm just my daddies boy."

In the later years he'd always call me "Sunshine". When I'd drive up to the house on Friday evenings to get him he'd sit in the front window and wait for me. When I'd drive up he'd struggle to his feet and shuffle out to the walk, usually with mother following to say hello to me and he'd wave and say "Hello Sunshine!" I used to look forward to that. I miss it now.

So, that's who I am. How about you? I'm not gonna tag anyone, but it you feel like a challenge, go for it. Cheers.