Sorry I've been away for so long.My dear sweet father-in-law passed last Wednesday at 12:50 pm. I feel compelled to write a tribute to him but must confess that I'm really having a hard time doing that. What can I say about this dear sweet man to help you understand how special he was?
He was a big burly man, strong as an ox with a size 20 ring finger and wearing EEEEE width shoes. I think I've told the story before about how he used to get his beers paid for by betting that he could bend a quarter with his fingers.. a true story and Dad won lots and lots of beers on this bet. But he was gentle of heart and specially caring for the ones he loved.
Although he could never bring himself to come out and tell you that he loved you, he was very free with his gestures of love. I witnessed him holding Mom's hand so gently, like he was afraid he'd break it. I've seen him cup his son's face in those huge hands when both of them were suffering from the physical as well as emotional pain of the situation. I saw him shed tears of sorrow over the rift between him and his daughters. And I'll never forget the pats on the head, and squeezes of the hand and the phone call checks when I'd finally leave late at night and head home to take care of our animals and house.
For the last 3 weeks of his life, I stayed 24/7 at Dad's house to help my hubby take care of him and mom. I saw the glint in eyes fade away, I saw how the cancer and his daughters robbed his body and his spirit away from him, I saw how his main concern was mom and that she would be taken care of. I saw him so painfully and slowly give up and decide that it was too hard to continue.
I was fortunate to be with him when he passed. I rubbed his head and gave him a kiss and a squeeze of the hand and his nurse rubbed his head and he ended his journey. So peaceful, so quite, just like the dear sweet man that he was.
We love you and miss you terribly Dad! Thank you so much for being there, for teaching us those ever important life lessons, for supporting everything that we did, for loving us and most importantly for just being our dad and a grandfather to our children and a Greatpapa to Jordan and Kaiden. We all love you and miss you terribly.
Have a great week, plumb full of smiles!
Peggy
