Bear with me.
It’s a long journey around so many messy things and I lack the stamina to run it in one tidy breath.
Opening your eyes to the realization that somehow you must lift your burdened self out of bed so the show can go on. Peeling potatoes and stirring gravy so your children won’t think of this as the year they lost a Grandpa and Christmas Day. Stoically wading through a sea of memories that now contain a foreign element of hurt, so others can remember him the way you do. Battling tears and the desert that has become your mouth in order to send him off with the dignity he very much deserves.
Worrying someone will bring him up and then hurting when they don’t, planning only outfits with pockets to hold your twists of unscheduled Kleenex. Finding a way to preserve voicemails you’re so thankful you never deleted, fighting the guilt that you have saved the last ten, subconsciously aware you would come to rely on them one day soon. Holding on to the last time you saw him healthy and ruthlessly reliving the last horrible day that he wasn’t.
I used to think death was this obscure thing—a convoluted end that was hard to understand—marred by emotion and murky in its meaning. I was so wrong. Death is concise. It’s clear. It’s forever. And it’s final.
So I fumble for a bright side.
Hazy always ends in a positive spin. And although I’m desperate not to let her down, I’m having a really hard time grasping a silver lining through all of these ominous clouds.
I wish you heartache such as this in your life. Because despite the crumbling cliff it leaves you dangling from, it’s a true blessing to have loved someone this way.
It was a hard Christmas Day Hazy and we all did him proud ❤️
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Yes, and yes. ❤
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He was a truly loving caring soul … & will be with us always, how can a husband & father & grandfather & uncle of his uniqueness ever be forgotton … He left his mark on us all … In very different ways … May god bless all who have been touched by such a wonderful man. ❤️
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Yes he was and he will never be forgotten. His personality and passion for life transcends time. What a guy. ❤
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