Hallo!
My name is Karl, and my father emigrated to the United States sometime between 1957 and 1961. He was born in Groeningen just at the outset of the Second World War, (1939, specifically). He was a child that watched his older family members get taken off to the camps by the Nazi invaders, because his family were strident supporters and active members of the Dutch Resistance, (the Orange Underground, or as he referred to them; The Knights of Orange. That was most likely nothing more than a child's fantastical imagery that just stayed with him). He gave a couple of horrendous depictions of those interactions with the Nazis and his family, gave me nightmares, honestly. Once he got older he took his chances and left his homeland to try to make his own way, and he truly did. A brilliant man, mentally traumatized by the War, on a deeply personal level, that scarred the entire world, but still driven to perfection, and always creating, or designing, engineering something else that would help others. He's a painter, usually seascapes with a female subject, in most cases, tending to prefer watercolors to present his view of the world he loved more than anything, the Sea. He was the reason I joined the Navy. He was superhuman to me and always will be, whether he's here or not. He's 83 now and age hasn't been kind but he's still that towering 6'4", boxer, handyman and genius to me that he always was. It's funny, I grew to be taller than him, yet, I don't remember ever not looking up to him. Ironic. He'll always be the man, the father, the genius, that I always knew I should become, and that I will never be. Geert 'Jerry' Annè Mesander, you're the only dad I've ever had or ever wanted. Thank you.
And thank y'all, I just wrote my father's eulogy, and didn't mean too. I only intended to express why this project means what it does to me.....I think I did. That's why I want to join this project.
