God took home a wonderful man April 14th, 2010. My dear Father-In-Law left a legacy that no one will soon forget. He also left 5 sons and 1 daughter and many grandchildren and great grandchildren. He was 82 years old and lived a long and fruitful life. He left such an impact on so many, with his years of coaching and volunteering for the church. I am very proud to have known him and grateful to him for raising the man that became my husband. I know that he is the one that helped mold my husband into the wonderful man that he has become. When my husband Brian spoke the eulogy at the funeral, I had never been more proud of him. My heart swelled with love, pride and sorrow for the man that I have been married to for over 16 years. I have never seen him in so much pain, but yet he was so strong and held his composure. It's not like this was unexpected, Papa had been in the hospital for almost a month, but I guess losing a parent is something you never truly can prepare for. No matter what age you are, your parents are your parents and life without them can't be easy, but at least Papa is no longer in pain and in a much better place. Actually, the whole service was beautiful. It was such a wonderful, loving tribute to such a well respected man. Patrick, Cody and Luke (grandsons) all did a great job doing the reading. Taylor did great. Our niece Courtney did a moving eulogy. Morgan read a poem.......everyone did such a great job, it really showed what a great family Gram and Papa have raised. I am sure Papa was looking down from heaven smiling at such a fantastic memorial service.
It has been such a long emotional month, I don't even know where to begin, I have so many people that I owe thanks and appreciate so much for helping out during this time. I guess I'll just start at the beginning..........Approximately 3 weeks ago Papa fell and broke his hip. At first he wouldn't go to the hospital, (he was a VERY VERY strong tough man).......but the next day when he fell again, Gram was able to talk him into letting an ambulance come and get him. Morgan, my great-niece who lives with Gram and Papa, stayed with us while Gram would spend the night at the hospital with Papa. At first we thought Papa would be in and out quickly, but they ended up finding numerous other ailments that wouldn't allow them to do the hip surgery. In the end, most of his organs were losing function and he was in a lot of pain. But, he was tough til the very end, (just ask the nurses). He hated hospitals and didn't want the nurses or doctors touching him. He would insist my mother-in-law do most of the things the nurses were supposed to do. He loved his wife more than life itself, and I can still hear him yelling "MARLENE"! any time she would walk out of the hospital room.
So this brings me to my first person who I am so thankful too.......My friend Amy. Amy is an ICU nurse at the hospital Papa was in. When Papa got so sick that they kept him in ICU instead of a room, he was miserable. I called my friend who had been on vacation and didn't even know he was in the hospital.......she called the hospital and specifically requested Papa as her patient. Until that point, Gram had felt like the hospital staff had not been on the up and up with her. Amy took such good care of Papa and made Gram feel so much more "In the Know". Thank you so much Amy! I love you. We all appreciated you so much!!
The first week Papa was in the hospital, Brian had to go on a business trip. That left me home alone with 5 kids. Actually, when you have 4 kids, one or two more extra is no big deal, but when you have 4 kids all in sports, it becomes a little difficult getting them all to practices and games at the same time. Luckily for me, my neighbor Shannon, has a daughter that was on the same baseball team as Morgan. Thank you so much Shannon for helping me out getting Morgan back and forth to practice and games. You helped out more than you will ever know. Camille always helps me out with anything I ever need. Especially when finding something to wear. I always know I can go to "Camille's Closet" anytime I need to dress up for something! Thanks so much Camille!! I love you!! My neighbors Shanae and Tara helped out whenever needed too. They would keep the kids for me and do whatever needed to be done. Thanks to all of yall so very much!! I really am so fortunate to live in the neighborhood that I do. I consider my neighbors more than just friends, I love them as if they were family. I know that I can count on them for anything, and they didn't disappoint me. So I want to thank Jan, Camille, Candace, Tara, Jennifer, Shanae for everything yall have done for me. Thanks for the beautiful plant yall sent, thanks for being there to listen to me fuss and complain, helping out with the kids, I could go on and on...........I love yall so much!!!!
Thanks to my best friend Stephanie for helping me pick out songs for Papa's picture DVD. That was such a big help! I love you dearly!
I also want to thank my friend Leanne. We go way back to the high school days. She lives in Dallas now and a couple of weeks ago just out of the blue she texted me asking for my shoe size. When my "happy" came, it was the day Papa died. Getting my shoes on that day, such a sad sad day, they couldn't have came at a better time. I thank you for thinking about me Leanne, I love you!!
It seems that I have had such a rough go with "death" lately. One thing it has taught me is that life is way too short. Don't sweat the small stuff, and always smile. I want to live life to the fullest and never have any regrets. I know and appreciate how loved I am and how fortunate I am to have such a wonderful loving family and such awesome friends. I know I am one lucky
cookie!:-)
So in closing, I would like to wish you all a happy life.........now go hug your loved ones or call a friend that you haven't spoken to in a while, because you never know what tomorrow is gonna bring. God Bless!
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