Some shoes and a Surgeon

Dear boys,

 

A couple of months ago, a lady from AZ made national news. She was vacationing in New York, when she witnessed a tender scene between a police officer and a homeless man. She captured on her camera how he gave the man a new pair of shoes.
Well, that story brought back a memory of your dad...
      Many years ago, we were still  studying at ASU and your dad worked at the Marriott. Well, he came running through the house. I asked what was wrong. He said, "nothing, I just need my church shoes." He grabbed them and I heard his truck take off, again. Fifteen minutes later, he came back home and explained the following:
      "As I was driving home from work, I saw a homeless man pushing a cart on the sidewalk. I went and got him some McDonalds. When I gave it to him, I asked him if there was anything else I could get him." The homeless person answered, "do you have any shoes?" "I have the shoes on my feet, do you want them?" The homeless person asked to look at them and then turned them down. He said, "sneakers wear through, too fast."
Your dad then told me that as he drove away, he thought of his church shoes, Doc Martens that had lasted his whole mission. He hurried back to try and give them to the homeless man, but could no longer find him.
      As your dad related this story to me I couldn't believe he was going to give away his shoes. We were poor students and it took us a couple of months to save up for shoes at the time. But the more I thought about it, I knew that is exactly what your dad would do. He never passed a person in need. Be it a homeless person on the corner or a stranded motorist on the side of the road. It didn't matter if he had time or not or if he was wearing the right clothes.

 

Your dad always served those in need.

For some reason another memory of your dad keeps coming to mind.
During your dad's surgical rotation, he worked under a surgeon that was not very nice. Your dad told me that sometimes surgeons have playlists they like to play in their operating room. Well, this surgeon decided that instead of quizzing your dad on medical knowledge he was going to quiz him on music. Anytime a new song came on, he would ask your dad, "who sings this?" Your dad never knew the answer. Each time he would answer, "I don't know," the surgeon would make fun of him to the rest of the OR team. After several "I don't know's" the surgeon finally asked him, "what do you listen to?" Your dad answered, "I don't know. I mostly listen to the Disney channel with my kids."
       Your dad didn't care if he wasn't looking cool to the surgeon. He was confident in himself and the knowledge he was supposed to be quizzed on. 

 

Your dad remained "steadfast and immovable", even when others were mocking him.

 

 

Don't forget the example of your amazing dad!

 

Love you always,

Mom