Yesterday was my dad's birthday. He would have been 84. Crozier Kimball Fitzgerald was born in 1932, and complications from his birth caused his mama to die 3 days later. By the age of 17, his childhood home had been destroyed in a fire, and his father had passed away from a stroke, leaving 13 children and their new mama, with big bills, great sorrow, and very little in the cupboards. Dad grew up in absolute poverty. At one point after the fire, he and his older brothers lived in the barn. (Pictured here with his younger sister Betty Ruth Fitzgerald (Bell) and brother Nephi Fitzgerald)
 
    My dad joined the Air Force right out of high school, during the Korean War. He thoroughly enjoyed Boot Camp and told me, "It was lots of fun and much easier than work on the farm" (Who says that?!) He is also the only person I know who loved military mess hall food, and thought it to be, "delicious." Dad had a cheerful nature and was always one who looked on the bright side of life. He was impatient with whiners, and those who could not put in a hard days work. Everyone else he was patient with and worked tirelessly to help them. He had patience with the addict, the imprisoned, and the sick, but zero tolerance for those who were lazy. (Lazy for my dad was someone wouldn't work at least a 10 hour day, -Ha!)

Dad left us a legacy of faith. He loved, and knew he was loved by, his Father in Heaven and his Savior. He lived and and loved the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Family meant the world to him and he taught us that the hard things we went through would end up being, "a good experience." Dad didn't know it at the time, but he was a living, breathing, example, of Posttraumatic Growth. Dad felt life could be sweeter, more lovely, with a greater connection to God, because of the trials in our life. Current research supports Dad's theories.  He nailed it!