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My Daddy...The Rock Star!

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Most of you here know Daddy, Thomas Petty. Maybe you called him Tom or Tommy, Mr. Tom, or Mr. Petty. You may have known him as your mechanic, your school bus driver, the cart guy at Saubel's, or he sold you auto parts. Maybe you attended church with him. Maybe you camped with him, or knew him from the fire company. However you knew him, you know he was kind, fair, strong and honest. If you'll indulge me, I would love to tell you in more detail who this man was! We called him Daddy, Pop-Pop, and Poppy. He was the patriarch of our family! And he instilled in every single one of us, the importance of God and Country. A life of service. In our family we have police officers, retired and active. We have firefighters, nurses, and other first responders. We have a pastor. We have military. That is no coincidence! Patriotism, love of country, love for our Lord. That's what our patriarch believed in. He instilled all of that into us on a daily basis. He did so without force. He inst...

My Sycamore Tree

The sycamore tree of my youth...oh the memories! Today at my parent's house, sitting in the shade, under the old sycamore tree, I was hit with so many memories. Memories of climbing it, memories of sitting at the picnic table in it's shade, sitting with friends and family on Sunday afternoons after church and a big meal. Jeff, my brother, and I sat under the tree today reminiscing about climbing that tree as fast as we could when the middle names came out of our Mom's mouth! He and I, along with our cousin Mike who lived with us a good part of our childhood, would ultimately get into something we shouldn't, and my Mom would start yelling, using our first AND middle names, so you knew she was serious. Our theory was, if we stayed there long enough, she would cool down. Man, was I good at climbing that tree! So as I sat there today, enjoying the breeze, and my family, I just relived all those good feelings of my youth. No worries, no adult anxiety, no stress. Oh how I w...