Imagine if you will

... waking up on an otherwise beautiful Sunday morning, pouring your coffee, and sitting down at the computer, only to find out via a facebook status update that your mother died… 12 hours ago! I am all for sharing life's events with online tools, but some things will ALWAYS require at least a phone call, immediately, no matter how difficult that call is to make! Furthermore, to find out that one of my two brothers and one of my two sisters withheld her dire condition from the rest of us, not giving us time to fly out there, has left me with an incredibly empty feeling. Basically they were the only two of five children that got to say goodbye. My oldest brother's wedding was the day before, so I am trying hard to understand that not wanting to upset the wedding was the reason for not telling us, but I have a long way to go on that reasoning. I will definitely need God's grace to help me sort out my feelings about not having the chance to say goodbye to my mother.

Gone But Not Forgotten…

My father has been tearing up the heavens for almost 16 years now. I was a young man of 26 when he passed away that rainy July morning. As I look back during this Father’s Day weekend, I remember lots of good times and lots of bad times, both of which I continue to try and learn from in raising my own three children. Dad and I had many disagreements, as do I with my kids. By the same token though, Dad shared an abundance of good times and “stupid humor,” as I do with my daughter and two sons. But there are two things that stand out the most for me. Two things that lifted me and carried me past the fact that I was too young to lose my father. One was his eternally optimistic views on life. He was always able to cheer anyone up and help them see the brighter side of things, if not in spoken words, you could find it in his poetry and campfire songs. In fact, within hours of his passing, the rain stopped and the most fantastic triple rainbow appeared. I know that it was sent from him and it was the sign I needed to know that everything would be alright, the glass would always remain half full. The other thing that I learned from my Dad was giving 100% devotion to the woman you choose to be your wife. Dad loved my mother with all of his heart since the day they met until, I am sure, this day in his afterlife. They had many friends come and go and lots of ups and downs, but Dad was always in my mom’s corner, faithfully. If nothing else, these are the same two gifts I intend to leave behind for my children and grandchildren (someday) because I think these two simple morals have served me pretty well. Happy Father’s Day…