My Dad

This is a different kind of blog post.  This has been a different kind of week.  Last Tuesday my dad had an aortic abdominal aneurysm rupture and he died within a few hours.  My mom found him passed out in the floor at home and then called 9-1-1 and then decided to have him checked out at the hospital.  When they got to the hospital he continued to decline and then after a CT scan they knew why.  My dad was 79 and he didn't suffer or lose his mind or have to be in a nursing home.  He would have hated that.  

Grief is a strange thing- it ebbs and flows and catches you by surprise.  Like many experiences in life- it is bittersweet.  I'm glad he is whole, happy and free- and with our Lord Jesus.... but it is strange not having him at home.  Death is a confrontation that we all die and all that matters in the end is how many people you built into and loved and told the Good News.  We all are at peace with things and I never felt anger at God.

I took a walk at Wheeler National Wildlife Refuge.  It's like that place has more oxygen or something.  I just love it.  It's quiet and peaceful and lovely.

His funeral was small but nice and God gave me the strength to sing at it.  I'm glad I did.  I think dad would have liked it.

Here's some good friends of mom and dad.  They had chicken houses near to ours in our Holly Pond years.  They are the kind of people that are just so solid.  You just get this pioneer solid feeling around them.  Plus, Janice is a gardener extraordinaire.  Whenever I ask her questions she makes it sound so easy.

Here's my whole family.  Preston, Stephanie, her two kids (Clay and Chloe), mom in the middle, me and Shack (our surrogate brother). I can't believe how big Stephanie's kids are.  I enjoy being with them.

I gave this to dad one Father's Day.  I asked mom if I could take it home.  It makes me smile.  I remember dad laughing about it when I gave it to him.

I can't even express the deep gratitude I have for every text, call, meal, flower, hug and word of support from everyone.  Sometimes small gestures mean the most.  A widow near to us broke up some branches we had in our trash can that the trash guys decided not to take and put them in yard waste bags for us. It really touched my heart.  Another friend sent a card for my children that spoke to them about death on their level- so thoughtful.  This last photo is from a friend that I sing with and a fellow "noticer".  He notices stuff and he said with this photo that we can only imagine what splendor my dad is experiencing now.