Playing Catch Up!!

September through December 2015 has just been crazy, busy, exhausting, and surreal.  September began with my oldest brother and his wife retiring after 18 years as Pastor of our church and moving to North Carolina. None of us realized how much mom relied on him.  My sister's husband, who would be my mom's next level of support, has spent the fall in and out of the hospital with cardiac bypass surgery followed by surgery for esophageal cancer.  My dad died on my granddaughter's first birthday, November 29th.  He went to the hospital the morning she was born, no longer able to support himself on his legs.  From the hospital to rehab, to remain there as a long term care resident.  The last month of his life he had been moved to a facility closer by, so my mom and I were able to see him every day instead of every other day.

My parents on their 68th wedding anniversary Sept 2015

“I would have fainted, unless I had believed that I would see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living.Wait on the Lord; be of good courage, and He shall strengthen your heart. Wait, I say, on the Lord!”  Psalm 27:13,14

I was reminded of these verses today in a blog post .  Through the circumstances of my dad's death, I do see the Lord's goodness.  Two grandsons who work out of the country were both home.  He died on a Sunday morning, with all but one of his five children in his room having coffee, weeping, sharing stories, singing, holding my mom close.  Three of his seven grandsons and one of their wives (a nurse) were also able to be there.  Six of his grandsons, one son-in-law, and a grandson-in-law shared a pride in military service with my dad who was a veteran of WWII.  Seven of them paid a special tribute to him.  The three currently serving placed their covers on his casket and the four no longer serving placed theirs on a table at his feet.  They stood on the platform while the oldest grandson, a Naval Officer, read a poem "The Watch" tweaked a bit to fit my dad.  The last line I believe was "Call the piper.  My grandfather stands relieved."  We had hired a bagpiper as my dad loved all things Scottish.  He heard that line and thought it was his cue to play, so he marched to the front of the church playing "Amazing Grace" while it took every ounce of strength for the young men on the platform to try to maintain composure.  While it wasn't planned quite that way, it was so fitting and so moving.  My dad would have needed his hanky.