A day to remember...

Who ever would have thought that I would be sitting in Ireland with cow slippers on watching my grandfather's memorial service? Not this one...not I. But God is stronger than the bogey man and so he will get me through this.

My Papa was an amazing man and I miss him but know he is not in pain anymore! Love you PAPA with all my heart!

Here is what I wrote to be read at his memorial service:

It is difficult to know fully what to say or exactly how to say it because it all seems a little surreal at the moment, as I am sure you all feel the same way.

Papa was, shall we say a unique man with many interesting qualities. I remember when I was little he was always trying to make up stories about how some animal had it out for me, to tell you the truth I was terrified of going in the back field because of what might be out there to get me. Papa was always good for a laugh.

Or one night my family and I had come for a visit and we all decided to go out to Chinese. Kelsie, Tyler, John and Mary Lynn were all there as well, so it was a big party and we were going to celebrate. Well while partaking in our wonderful meal, Papa decided to show off his magical talent of being able to eat one of the spiciest peppers out there. We all watched and waited for Papa to make an utter fool out of him. Papa took the pepper in his normal confident and ever so slight cocky style…we all watched but nothing happened. And then we waited, and waited and waited. Still nothing happened then all of a sudden Papa’s brow started to look shiny and his face was about the shade of a man who had been in the sun too long. Then he said that “darn pepper” burnt a whole in my tongue. We all busted up laughing! J It was hilarious! Papa continued to sweat for the longest time and we went on enjoying our meal while Papa nursed his aching tongue.

Every time I had the privilege of visiting Papa and Grandma, we always did fun and exciting things. Like camping, even though Rachel didn’t like the woods too much. Or I came to visit and they dressed me up in proper cowgirl clothes and we went to the rodeo, where we saw bull riders, cowboys and ponies! J Or the time I came down for Spring Break with one of my Brazilian friends and we were allowed to stay up really late! Or the time we got lost for 6 hours on the backside of a mountain because I told Papa to go the wrong way. We did go out for a nice dinner after that and we eventually had a good laugh. J

Papa also volunteered to be a model for me. Yup, I bet all of you never thought Papa would be a model did you? Well he was a good handbag model! One day I was making purses at the kitchen table and Papa was in a rather good mood and decided that he was going to model my new creations by strutting around the kitchen. I couldn’t stop laughing; I even have photos to prove it. It was quite possibly one of the funniest things I had seen in a while. Never knew Papa had it in him!

Knowing Papa he wouldn’t want a lot of flowery words or drawn out speeches, he would want us to remember him with stories. So hopefully these stories have brought back good memories for some and showed Papa to be the wonderful, caring and spirited man that we all knew him to be.

Papa, I will miss you dearly and hope you have found rest from pains of your illness. So many people will remember you fondly and they will miss you for ages to come. Know I love you dearly and miss you terribly but pray that you have found rest! Love you, Papa!