Landing in My Present

Landing in My Present documents the process one woman—the author—went through to reconnect with her father, who was killed in a farming accident when she was a mere teenager. The father’s death was the “elephant in the family room” that no one talked about. As the 50th anniversary of his death loomed, the author felt compelled to reacquaint herself with the father she never really knew to begin with.

I can imagine the heart wrenching moments the author experienced as she discovered new things about her father, yet being unable to talk to her father about such things. I sensed some regret for not knowing her father better before he died, yet this was likely squashed by the realization that he was truly a hero during his life.

I like how the author included the entire process she went through during her research, even the failures. The biggest of those failures was waiting 50 years after his death to begin her research. There were a number of reasons for this—good reasons—but a wealth of information about her dad was lost as his friends and associates died during those 50 years. However, she remained determined.

The author attributed great significance to her dad’s years in the military. They accounted for less than three years of his life, yet I estimate that she spent more than 50 percent of her research on those years. I imagine that’s probably because of the impact war can have on its combatants.

In addition to telling us how she conducted her research, she also made it clear how some of her findings impacted her feelings about her father. To make things even more transparent to the reader, she included some of the letters and emails she acquired during her research – verbatim.

The author did something else that I thought was quite clever, yet very germane to the book: she included several letters that she felt could have been written by her father while he was in the service. In other words, the author actually penned the letters, but she tried to do so as her father. I doubt that I’m doing this justice in trying to explain it. However, I considered those letters my favorite parts of the book. (That doesn’t mean the rest of the book wasn’t good. It was.)

The photos included in the book were also very helpful, informative and added to my enjoyment of the story.

Technically, I thought the author did a great job in presenting this. She made the book interesting, and well worth my time. The book was well-edited, and it moved along at a steady pace. She included a timeline at the end of the book that put everything in place for me.

This country and the state of Texas, in particular, have raised a number of heroes. This is a story about one of them. I recommend it.