R.I.P. Patrick

After 14 years of on and off illness my brother Patrick on April 4, 2014 at 1:02 p.m. slipped the surly bonds of earth to pass into heaven.  I know he had a wonderful greeting.  I can hear my Daddy hollering "What took ya so long son?"  "Time to get fishin' now that you finally made it here."  My Aunt Tricia would be asking if he wanted coffee and Grandma Ruby would be telling him lets go to Walmart.  Granny and Granddaddy Phillips would have him over to drink Dr. Peppers with him and Aunt Shirley would be asking if he saw all the beautiful blluebonnets blooming on his way up.  Grandpa Ivy would be setting up the dominoes for a moon tournament.  Horseshoes would be played in the cool of the evening and Patrick will be in his glory and not be hurting anymore.

Thank you God for your tender mercies and for your glorious heaven.  I look forward to the best family reunion when I finally get there with them all.

My Daddy passed away on December 22, 2013 at about 7 p.m.  He had been going down throughout the proceeding week but no one notified us so we had no idea until we got to the VA on that Sunday morning.  He looked bad but not so bad that we thought he would pass that day.  I'm just glad I got to see him that one last time.  Something came over me on Saturday night to go and see him.  I called my sister and told her I'd take her and Mom on Sunday and that my brother Terry could just stay home then and get some rest or run errands or whatever he needed to do.  I'm so glad I listened to that inner voice but so sad that we didn't know he was on his last day.  We would have stayed to the end if we would have known.  We went up there after he died and spent some time with him.  My Mama was very upset of course and kept beating herself up for not staying and being with him through the end.  She kept on saying how Grandpa passed after she left and how Grandma passed after she left and now Dad passed after she left.  I told her maybe that was Gods way of not putting her through seeing someone she loved so dearly pass in front of her.  She still kept beating herself up over it.  She's holding up pretty good, not great, but there's nothing wrong with being just OK when sad things happen.  He always wanted to be cremated so we arranged that, had a nice funeral for him, and brought him home to sit on the mantel and be with family.  He was in the VA for 4 years and one month.  After being away from family and my Mom there was no way she was going to bury him.  After the funeral we brought him home. He'll be there until Mom joins him and then I hope that we will pass them on to children and grandchildren through forever.  I'm sure one day we might find somewhere sweet that reminds us of them and spread their ashes together there.  After 53 years of marriage and 54 years of loving each other I can't imagine them not being together after forever.