Generations

My father, Arnold Cannon, 1930-2004

As another Memorial Day Weekend approaches, and I see American flags waving here and there, I immediately think of my hero - my late father, Arnold Barry Cannon, who served in the Korean and Vietnam wars. I miss him terribly. He often talked about his days in "the service." Oh, the stories he would tell.

I'm sure my youngest brother, Joseph James Cannon, another of my heroes, is familiar with plenty of these stories, too. As I write this, Joe (the baby of the family, there are six of us kids) is out there somewhere in the world, on another tour of duty for the U.S. Navy. He's an electronic warfare specialist or EW as they call it. As I understand it, he helps crack codes and disrupt signals.

Joe's due to return to San Diego in September, where he lives with his wife, Sarah, and their daughter, Quinn. He also has a son, Rylie, who will graduate from high school in Indiana next month and plans to attend college in California.

Joe's deployment and Rylie's high school days will soon end, yet these life events will point the way toward new beginnings - making up for lost time with family, embarking on a college education, each generation constantly learning from the other. Now those are some damn good reasons to wave a flag proudly.

That's my brother, Joe, standing at far left.