My sweet PaPa passed away last week. It was a very sudden sickness and fight with cancer. I can not even begin to share how sad I am about losing him. I thought I would share what I wrote and read at his funeral:
January 27th, 2009
There are so many things that I could say about my PaPa. He was a good man, a good father and a good husband. He did the right thing almost all of the time which isn’t always the easy thing to do. He was respectful and loving to all of his friends and family. He took care of us. He was a provider in every sense of the word. When my father passed away five years ago I remember how much it hurt him to see us girls (his girls) in so much pain. I could see it in his eyes when he looked at me during the week of the funeral. After the visitation he came and sat with me on the couch in the front hall and he said to me “I am always here for you and your momma and the girls.” I cried and he hugged me tight. Of course he would be there for us, he always had been – he didn’t even need to say it.
Never did an important event pass for any of his children, grandchildren or great-grandchildren that he wasn’t there. I love that he came to my house every year for Halloween to see the boys in their costumes. I love that he came to almost all of Nolan’s soccer games this season. I love that he was in my hospital room when I was in labor with Hudson and when the epidural wasn’t working he was the one that held my hand until the nurse came back. That’s the kind of person he was – quiet and calm and always there when you needed him. I love that he helped us bury our family cat behind his shed and understood that it was important to us. I love that he let my drive his old pick-up truck on a highway for the first time ever with my learners permit and said he said I would be fine. (I acted cool like I was definitely not scared even though I was shaking in my boots; as I entered the on-ramp that tall overpass from 287 to I-20.) I love that he hung out every morning at the donut shop with a bunch of his old buddies and would take us with him when we would spend the night. I love how he still referred to Grandma as “Momma” even though his kids have been grown and out of the house for over thirty years. I love that he put gas in Grandma’s car every week. I love that Nolan says that PaPa was one of his best friends. I love how he always wanted to pay for dinner when we went to eat, even if it was for something like his birthday or fathers day – we would have to fight him to let us do anything for him.
He was at countless birthday parties, school events, practices, games, graduations, weddings, through good times and bad – he was always there for all of us kids. He picked us up from school when we needed a ride, he let all the little kids ride on the riding lawn mower, he played cards with friends every week, he had a garden and grew tomatoes and cucumbers, he told good stories, he wore coveralls and then overalls all my life, he watched Perry Mason and Matlock, he loved the Texas Rangers, he loved his wife, he worked hard all his life. PaPa was honest and nice and just one of the best people I knew. I know that we all have a little PaPa in all of us. I am so sad that he is gone but I know that he will keep his promise to me and he will always be here for me when I need him because he is in my heart.
