Today's post is dedicated to TSgt (Ret.) James M. Adams Jr. My dad. For many different reasons we didn't really spend as much time together as we should have or could have done, and even though he wasn't physically in my life for much of it, I learned a great deal from him. He was a bit of a Marmite character - you either loved him or hated him, and he appeared not to care about that, but appearences can be deceptive! I never really heard many good things about him - I mean he was no angel - but when I went back to Texas in '99, I got to know him a little better. To my surprise, so many people loved and respected him. All of them in fact, apart from my Mom's best friend from when when lived there. This was all new to me and I found it a little hard to believe. I mean I knew my Dad right? Apparently I didn't! It seemed that despite his quirks and shortcomings (and sometimes his cruelty), he was (like it says on his father's grave) a friend to