Daddy

"I will not leave you comfortless; I will come to you". John 14:18

I just feel compelled to write a post in honor of my father. For those of you who know me well you know that my father is 67 years old and that he was married to my mother for over 47 years. They would have celebrated their 48th wedding anniversary on September 6th had the Lord not taken my mother home on June 2nd of this year.

It is hard to explain my relationship with my father. He provided for his family our entire lives and my mother stayed at home to raise us 4 children. Daddy is not a "warm and fuzzy" kind of father and I can't say that I have fond memories of playing with my father and spending lots of time with him as I know my children have of their father. However, he was a good father and one of the most important things that he did was to send us to church. He made sure that we were at church every Sunday and while we rebelled against it during our teen years and early adulthood, I am proud to say that all four of his children attend church regularly and we all are saved. He accomplished the most important task that a parent has before them when parenting children so "You go dad!".

As children , and then as adults ,we were all closest to our mother. Sharon, Susie and myself literally saw her every other day for the past 2 years and rarely did not talk to her on the days we did not see her. We saw our father at family get to-gethers and if you know our family, they occur almost monthly and sometimes several times per month depending on who is having a birthday. Daddy attended the get to-gethers but did not visit at other times with his children. It was just not his nature. He in very introverted and does not show his emotions very easily.

I am convinced that one of the reasons that the Lord called my mother home when he did was to allow us to have a relationship with our father that we never would have had if he would not have outlived my mother. Upon my mother's death 5 months ago, we children began visiting our father several times a week. Roy, my brother, actually visited with him almost every day. Roy has been a wonderful support for my father and he has gone above and beyond since my mother's death.

Daddy came by the house today and we sat and visited for almost an hour. If you know my father, you know that this is quite a long time as until recently I could not get him to sit down when he "dropped by" and he would stand for about 10 minutes before he would make his departure. We talked about his father, grandfather, uncles and other family members. He even talked a little bit about his teenage years. I probably spent more time talking with him today (one on one) than we talked the whole time I was growing up. He just has never been a talker. I know he talks for long periods of time with Roy but he just never has with us girls. It is bittersweet because I know that when the time comes, if the Lord tarries, for my father to join my mother in Heaven, it will be a much harder loss for me and my siblings as we are all closer to our father than we have ever been because our mother is no longer with us. I know she would have wanted this. I am including a picture of my dad and also one of my parents with John Anthony. This was taken in 2006 at Jeremy's high school graduation. My father loved my mother very much, more than we realized and probably more than she ever knew. He misses her terribly and it hurts me so to see the hurt and loss in his eyes.

I am also including a picture of Roy with his youngest child, Daniel. I have not told Roy how proud I am of him for being such a wonderful son to our father and I need to tell them this and how much I love him.