A GENTLE PUSH

By Richard Ridpath

This is a tale of a man's journey that begins virtually in his own backyard but proceeds to destinations beyond his imagination. You will encounter some military veterans in this story who are presented in an honorable, and hopefully, entertaining manner. The dedication and sacrifice of our military veterans resonate deeply for our country. We can't forget these brave men and women, especially the warriors who sacrificed their bodies and need our help now. If you read no further, you've already reached the heart of this story.Remember our veterans, always. ~John Reston is a thirty-seven year old IT professional whose father, Jack, had passed away a year earlier. Jack, an Army veteran, had lost his leg in Viet Nam but his spirit was as robust as ever throughout his life. Jack Reston had a personality that could fill a room. John, not so much. Jack always had advice and guidance for John through the years. Sometimes John would even follow that guidance. Previously divorced, and now suddenly John was unattached. At least that's what his girlfriend just informed him as such. John was rudderless, in a boat that leaked. Man, he missed his father.Then one night John noticed a light glowing from beneath a closed door. A light that he knew didn't exist! John approached the door and opened it. His life was changed forever. ~~This book is dedicated to my father, Charles Ridpath, a Marine who lost his leg at Iwo Jima but not his spirit and his passion for life, a passion that he passed onto his three children. Our country, and the world, has been made a better place for the sacrifices made by our men and women in uniform over the years. My father made the world a better, and special, place for me. I can only hope and pray that I can do the same for my children. As with John Reston, the main character of the story, I also miss my father deeply. Even if you don't take the opportunity to read 'A Gentle Push' I hope you will take the time to read just this single anecdote about my father.As mentioned he lived a full life with one leg. One Christmas Eve morning, my father was running to catch a bus on his way to work. He always carried a big brown grocery store bag that contained the ample lunch that my mother usually packed for him. As he rushed toward the waiting bus, my father's foot broke off his artificial leg. Without hesitation, he picked up his foot, still sitting in his shoe, and hobbled onto the bus. When he reached into his pocket to pay the fare, the bus driver just shook his head and silently pointed to an empty seat in the front. My father thought that maybe it was just a nice Christmas gesture from the bus company. Then, as he later related to the family, he realized that it was strange that he was quickly able to get a seat by himself on the bus which was usually packed to the point that my father would have to stand many times. As my father told us, it was after a few minutes that he realized that it was probably his predicament with his leg that generated the out of the ordinary bus experience. This occurred to him as people silently stared, and the bus driver frequently glanced back, at my father as he sat in his seat, holding his big brown lunch bag with one hand, and his foot, shoe and all, in the other. After my father arrived at work, he was working at a small machine shop at the time, he went to his work bench, put some screws into the broken foot and attached it back to his artificial leg, topped with an application of duct tape. My father made it through the work day as he always did. That's who he was. I just wish they had the fancy video phones back then. I would have loved to have seen those faces on that bus. ~~~

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1520179936
• ISBN13: 9781520179933
• Release Date: March 2019
• Publisher: Independently published
• Length: 264 Pages
• Weight: 1.02 lbs.
• Dimensions: 9.0" x 0.7" x 6.0"