• Life

    I hadn’t thought of you today…

    December 26, 2020 - By 

    Frank Zappa…a name I heard as Rob read from book that he got for Christmas. As he read he said the name “Frank Zappa”…in my head “Dad loved the Zappa family and their music.” Then I remembered what today was… 2013 the family and I were in the air on an airplane. You can read about that here. This combination of days. Christmas and the day after. Christmas such joy and elation. Soaking in the family moments. Yesterday on my Timehop app a cropped pic of this popped up. It was Dad’s last Christmas (which we knew would be the…

  • Spreading My Dad's Ashes
    Life

    Spreading My Dad’s Ashes

    July 16, 2015 - By 

    Never in a million years did I imagine that I would be spreading my Dad’s ashes before I even turned 40! You can read all about his journey with ALS, which was a quick one actually. On my last visit to see him, he expressed to Rob and me that he wanted to be “blowing in the wind.” Well on January 1st, 2015 that’s exactly what he was doing before his ashes finally met the salty ocean waters just off the coast of Marathon Key. You’ll see in the video, me just standing there after the ashes are poured out.…

  • letter to dad - a life lost to #ALS
    Life

    letter to dad #1

    August 30, 2014 - By 

    Dear Dad, Dad, I know you’re watching from Heavens above. That brings me comfort. Today I am home by myself getting some work done, 80’s music blaring in the back ground. You know 80’s music is by far my favorite music of all time. Now that you’re gone, though, sometimes it’s hard to listen to certain songs without just tearing up. And well sometimes just absolutely breaking down into tears like today. Memories of spending weekends with you, running errands, watching you talk on your bag phone back when having a bag phone was cool. I mean a “cell” phone…

  • Memories in a Bottle {Cremation Necklaces}
    Life

    Memories in a Bottle {Cremation Necklaces}

    July 29, 2014 - By 

    After my Dad passed away and I started thinking and I thought about ways to be able to keep just a little bit of Dad’s ashes. He wants his ashes spread in the Florida Keys and I hope to be able to go down there soon. I wanted to be able to go down there before the end of this year, but I’m not sure I’ll be able to swing it. Oh, I digress…. Anyway, I found that you could order necklaces. I asked my brothers if they wanted one and if so to pick one out and let me…

  • Life

    6 Months….

    June 26, 2014 - By 

    I’m sure I depressed everyone with my posts about my Dad over Father’s Day Weekend. However, today marks 6 months since he’s been gone. My brother’s post on Facebook saying, “Wow six months,” I replied: “Ugh. Hits ya in the gut. Sometimes it seems like yesterday, but others seems like he’s been gone forever. However, my brain still seems to think that I can call him up to ask him something or share something funny. I guess that may never go away.” I’m amazed at how the pain hasn’t subsided. Maybe it’s still too early…I don’t know. Since I was…

  • Life

    Remembering Dad Today…

    June 15, 2014 - By 

    I’m just not even sure how or where to start with this post. The past few days I’ve been in anticipating Father’s Day rolling around and have been seriously dreading it! It’s not surprising that “Father’s Day” takes on a new definition when your Dad dies. My definition of Father’s Day now includes a tug in my heart knowing that my Dad is no longer just a phone call away. Instead, I’ll get a lump in my throat thinking back to last November and December when he suffered physically and mentally, only because he saw what was going on with…

  • Dad Hedgehog Dec 2013
    Life

    More thoughts…and pics of Dad

    March 18, 2014 - By 

    I received my Dad’s ashes a couple of weeks ago. I’m thankful to have them in my possession now. So I’ve started to casually look at the costs of going down to the Florida Keys, where he wanted to be spread. I am thankful to have one loose end taken care of and I hope to have more closure when we take this trip. I’ll share more about that as it comes about. I am thankful he picked somewhere beautiful and tropical. I just continue to find myself grasping for something when it comes to missing Dad. I am missing…

  • Life

    Tiffany & Dad

    March 5, 2014 - By 

    I am really missing my Dad lately. I was excited to get some pics that my cousin, Tiffany, took in December on a couple different occasions. Here’s one from December 14, 2013 of my Dad and Tiffany. I just look at this picture and I just still can’t fathom that he is gone. His body is now ashes waiting to be “blowing in the wind” in their final resting place. I just can’t believe that just a few months ago, he was living life, like nothing was wrong, not knowing anything was wrong. I am so thankful he is no…

  • Dad Remembered
    Life

    Dad Remembered

    February 17, 2014 - By 

    This was in an email that was sent out by the Race Across America (RAAM). My Dad loved RAAM and enjoyed being a part of this huge race for so many years. He gave so much of his time to this cause. Glad they put a blurb in the newsletter last month remembering him. I think he would be surprised. Dad’s (Short) Journey with ALS

  • Life

    6 weeks later…

    February 11, 2014 - By 

    Two weeks ago, when we were at our church’s retreat, I finally began to grieve. It slapped me right in the face as I sat there Saturday night, listening to Olu Brown recount the story of him dealing with the loss of his Dad. There were many similarities in our stories, but it wouldn’t have mattered. I just sat so stiff grasping on to my emotions as if I let a tear drop, I would go plunging from the highest of cliffs. I made it through Olu’s message without coming completely unwound, but then we sang 10,000 Reasons. Or rather…

  • Life

    New Year’s Eve 2013

    February 10, 2014 - By 

    I just realized I never really finished talking about our trip back from Texas. We had flown out there with plans to visit with Dad, help him out with whatever he needed help with, and prepare the truck he was giving us and drive it back home. Well, as you know plans changed while we were in flight to DFW. After the Memorial Service on Monday, Rob and Drew took over the task of getting the truck ready. We also decided to take the trailer that my Dad had as well. Meanwhile, I spent time helping Justin and Jason going…

  • Life

    Here’s the story, I told at my Dad’s Memorial Service…

    January 6, 2014 - By 

    Late Saturday night, I sat at my Granny’s bar shuffling through songs on my laptop from Bob Dylan, ZZ Top, and Eric Clapton. I just couldn’t find a song for Dad’s slideshow that I’d made for his memorial service. Drew sat across from me. We laughed at some of the choices, like “Blowing in the Wind” and “Death is Not the End”. I told Drew I was going to look at the Beatles, because surely they have a song that would feel right. “There’s “Hey Jude” or “Yesterday”. Mmmmm…no, I’m gonna keep lookin’,” I told him. Then, I saw it.…

  • After Christmas (part 2)
    Life

    After Christmas (part 2)

    January 6, 2014 - By 

    If you missed my first post about the day after Christmas, you can read it here. So Thursday afternoon was filled with calling my brother to tell him that Dad was gone. Going to Dad’s house to clean up some and then talking with family about details with Dad. My brother got into town in the middle of the night, I tried to sleep for a couple hours before going to get him. Friday was very busy, but I’m thankful that my Uncle Brad and cousin Maddie were at Granny’s to hang out with the boys and play games with…

  • Life

    The Day after Christmas

    January 3, 2014 - By 

    The day after Christmas the family and I got up early and headed to the airport. I’ve been dreading this trip since a couple weeks ago when we planned it. When Rob and I were visiting my Dad last month, he had us test drive his 1991 Ford Ranger truck. When we got back from that visit, we decided to see if he would like us to get a one-way-ticket and fly back out and drive the truck back. After talking to him a couple times, he finally said it was ok. I don’t know what it was, but he…

  • Emergency trip to Texas
    Life

    Emergency trip to Texas

    November 28, 2013 - By 

    Saturday morning Rob and I got up early, dropped Drew off for his hiking trip, and got to the Atlanta airport. Everything went really smoothly, parking the car, checking our luggage, going through security, so we had time to grab some breakfast. We decided crepes at Freshens. Really yummy! We flew Spirit Airlines out of Atlanta to DFW. So much was running through my mind when we got on the plane, so I just ended up closing my eyes and sleeping most of the flight. Dad called me once we got off the plane and were waiting for the rental…

  • Life

    The saddest post I’ve ever had to write

    November 22, 2013 - By 

    I am not ready to say goodbye! God, it’s too early. I’m too young! He’s too young! These are just some of the things running through my head the other night after getting the news that took my breath away. Hearing my Dad try and ease the blow, finally saying he’s got ALS, Lou Gehrig’s disease. A disease I knew enough about to know it’s a horrible, horrendous disease that I wouldn’t wish on my worst enemy. What’s even worse is that he believes that he’s had it for several years. Today he had another test and it confirmed everything.…