June 19, 2005

• Father’s Day—–Another Hero!

  
  

  I want to tell you about a mentor in my life, another super hero that I am blessed to know! This is my step-father, otherwise known as “Harry”, “Harold”, or, most affectionately……”Boss Moss”. Harry came into my life when I was 20, and in the Army for the first time right after VietNam. He and my mother married while I was in Boot Camp. I remember coming home, as an adult, and meeting my “new dad” of sorts. What impressed me most about that Boss Moss was that he wanted to get to know me, this hard drinkin, soldier type that was young and dumb, wild, wounded from a broken family and quickly on the road to ruin. Still, he didn’t judge me, he just wanted to get to know me and be a friend. We went out to a couple of bars and had a few beers (he doesn’t really even drink). HE came down to where “I” was and really cared to get to know me. It’s funny, my real father never even made that attempt until I got back from the Gulf War, twelve years later.

  
  

  PIC: Harold “Boss Moss” Baily and my daughter, Shannon

  
  

  After my first three years in the Army I got out and came home to go to college. By this time I was becoming addicted to drugs, and I moved in with my mother, he and my brother and sister. I horribly managed the Family Record Store (Bailey’s Records in Melbourne Florida). Much of my drug use was hidden, yet he suspected and was firm but loving. He spent TIME with me, teaching me to work with wood as we made all the store racks and fixtures. He  spent TIME with me, talking, and working as we swept the walks at the shopping center and mowed the grass and took care of all the maintenance. He spent TIME with my little sister and brother, loving them and being a father to them. He spent TIME….he never judged, he was always honest, he always cared. As I look back at that period in my life I realize that the Boss Moss influenced me through his true love. He even understood and encouraged my relationship with my father, who was pretty distant to us. He understood that it was an important relationship in my life.

  
  

  After college I moved to Daytona Beach to escape my “druggie” friends in Melbourne, only to continue the lifestyle there….DUH! Harry was still always there for me….firm….but loving. To this day, Harold always has TIME for us, and in many ways, is the father I never had, at a time I needed one most. After a couple of years in Daytona I finally gave up, found the strength I needed in Christ to get off the drugs…….and Harry was still there, with open arms.

  
  

  I owe allot to this man. God put him into my life. He has the capacity to love, to laugh and to just be real, he never judged me, he tried to understand me. He’s firm, understanding, tough but always loving. He’s my hero, my sisters hero, and as far as I know, he’s a hero to all that come to know him.

  
  

  Thank you Harry for taking me into your life and steering me to do the right things in my life. You’re a mentor, a friend and …..well most af all….you’re my Dad! Happy Father’s Day!

  
  

  I would love to hear about someone in your life that is a “Hero”, someone that God put into your life in a mighty way.

  • 10:34 pm
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