A few days ago, I got a Facebook message from a friend I grew up with. It was a picture of my dad I'd never seen. My dad was a volunteer deputy sheriff in Black Forest, Colorado where I grew up. He would work at football games, parades, sometimes ride along with the sheriff or guard prisoners who were in the hospital.
I saw my dad in his sheriff's uniform hundreds of times but I don't have any pictures of him wearing it, so it's been years since I've actually seen him in it.
And I get his picture and it was weird how all those memories came flooding back. I remember the hat, the stripes on his pants and even the gun he wore, which I still have. Seeing a picture taken 45 years ago that I've never seen made me miss him in a way I haven't missed him for quite awhile. It wasn't just a memory, it was really a picture of him, doing something that he loved to do and that I remember so well.
My dad has been gone for over 15 years now and I think about him all the time. Seeing this picture just really brought it back.