Papa's Passing...

The first time I saw Papa he was sitting at a picnic table with a friend outside of a hitching post/food stand in Sturbridge Village, Massachusetts. I'd joined my mom for a couple of days on her LDS Church History tour which she'd decided to go on alone as a 46 year old and recently single woman. The tour had passed through NYC, where I was living at the time, so it only made sense for me to go along and be able to spend a couple of days with her.

Anyway, I remember approaching that picnic table with her that day and suddenly seeing this big smile appear on his face. Of course, at this point you have to remember that I didn't know him from Adam, but still somehow sensed that this probably wasn't a case of love at first site for ME on his part. And since they'd been traveling on the same bus together for a couple of days already, and because I was at the very astute age of 19, I was pretty much able to immediately surmise that that smile was most likely for her.

It was July and freakin' hot and what else I mostly remember about that moment were the bees buzzing around in the trash barrel right next to the patio deck. There was a paper basket full of french fry remnants still smothered in ketchup in it and several half full cans of coke along with whoever knows what, and the bees were buzzing wildly. So I decided to move away. I can't remember exactly how long it was before mom finally decided to come over and join me, but I do remember it was a really long time. Sheesh, what a floozie!

Of course Mom doesn't remember any of this...

*SAVES SPACE FOR A PICTURE FROM 1974 BECAUSE I KNOW MOM MUST HAVE AT LEAST ONE PICTURE FROM BACK THEN TUCKED INTO THAT INCREDIBLY ORGANIZED PHOTO DRAWER OF HERS*

I would never be a great historian because I pretty much just always "guess" at dates and timelines so I'm just gonna go ahead and leave any dates and timelines out of this...

But in a nutshell, what eventually came of that tour, and what I'd like to believe was due to that little meeting at the picnic bench, was this:

* A beautiful marriage of 35 years! (I remember when hitting the 25 year mark how they joked about having been married for 50!... even if it hadn't exactly been to each other...) And two people's lives which suddenly became the ONE they were meant to live and with the person they were meant to love.



I just like that picture so much because it encompasses everything that a hundred more pictures ever could.

But still, here's just a couple more anyway...











Thank you so much David, not only being my children's Papa, but for being mine too. You've been the most wonderful dad and grandpa that any child or grandchild could have ever hoped to have. And I'm not even gonna start with the huge lists of all the reasons I say that... because I'm hoping you know them them just as well as we do, and truly hope that you've known them all along.

Love you!

Papa passed at the age of 93 on September 8th 2011, last Thursday following a beautiful afternoon drive with mom. But he was just ready. And when he passed he went peacefully and perfectly... as difficult as it was for the rest of us to let him go.