Building models – planes, tanks, and ships – was his favorite hobby as a kid. Five dollars would get him his favorite kind of modeled airplane, a Spitfire Hawker Hurricane.
“Sure, I would get models for Christmas and birthday’s but you can never have too many,” he said.
He went to school at nine years-old with $1.35 in lunch money that his dad gave him. Occasionally he would keep the money and skip lunch. He didn’t tell his dad – but he thought if he skipped lunch four times there would be enough for a five dollar model kit.
“But I do really remember how guilty I felt about it in a way I guess breaking my dads trust directly indirectly by keeping the money,” he said.
As a little kid he thought of having to tell his dad the truth. In his mind, he pictured his dad on his death bed and he would tell him.
“My dad passed away on April 11th. When we were already certain he wasn’t going to live I asked the nurse to leave the room and I told him,” he said.
With his dad ailing, his confession might of gone unheard – but he knew he had to tell him.
“I guess the word closure is the term of being able to acknowledge that he was going to die; so it was kind of more about that than any other thing, instead of just feeling like I had to tell him,” he said.
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This story was produced by Filipa Rodrigues and prepared with assistance by Victoria Garcia.
