There are many times where I am captivated by my father's USNA Class Ring. All the hats of the different ships that he had traveled on, the saber that hides away, or his midshipmen uniform. They're all simple things, but they hold great meaning.

I remember that every veterans day in elementary school, I would ask my father if I could wear his uniform hat. It was always too big to fit on my small head, yet I would wear the lopsided hat and my pink United States Naval Academy hoodie with pride. When "Anchors Aweigh" would play through the speakers on the stage, I would glance back to the back of the gymnasium to see my father standing proudly. Seeing him would always put a smile on my face, and I would giggle and tell my friends to look.

In the third grade, we had to write an essay on what veterans had meant to us. I didn't think twice about writing everything down about my father. I remember the blue pen I used to write it with, and seeing it hanging in the top left corner of the bulletin board outside of my classroom. It hung there with pride for a few weeks, and it had always filled me with happiness and a sense of pride.

Now, there are no more assemblies to honor those who have served, but instead we get to serve breakfast to all veterans. My father, of course, would attend to these events and listen to my band play. Memorial Day Parades and Veterans Day breakfasts, I could always count on my dad to be there to listen to me play "Salute to America's Finest" because after all, that is what he is to me.

My father was never in active duty when I was growing up, but that doesn't make me any less proud of him. I never had to miss him or wait for him to come home, worrying if he ever would. He was always home to tell me stories about traveling the world to serve his country. The stories of him and his friends goofing off. His football stories that drove him to the academy, and urged him to be persistent and to not give up. He uses these stories to encourage me to do the same. To not give up the ship.

He fought his way into the academy and persuaded them to give him a chance. He proved every word that he meant to his officers. My father is the most driven man I have ever met, and I will always remember every word of encouragement that he ever spoke to me.

Thank you, Dad. This one is for you.