Dad, here's to you.

My Dad, Thomas David Brown, died last Monday, January 2, 2017.  He was born on January 25, 1935 and in February, my mom and dad would have been married for 58 years.

There's still a lot of processing going on.  Memories shared.

A lot of back story - last August my mom fell and broke her leg very badly.  She's had several surgeries, and has been in several hospitals - she was in "Hills and Dales" in Cass City, MI. (I mention their name because the nurses are very wonderful!)

Dad took a really bad turn for the worst with his heart and lung conditions, and we spend Thanksgiving dinner at the hospital with Mom.  So Phil and I, and my kids, were able to spend Thanksgiving dinner with both of my parents for my Dad's last Thanksgiving dinner in this life.

I spent some good quality time with Dad before the rest of my family got to Sandusky, Michigan.  And I knew that he was ready to go see Jesus.  He made no secret that he didn't want to live like that.

After Christmas, my mom was released to an assisted living home (on Thursday.) My dad was released from a different hospital to the same home, in the same apartment with Mom on Saturday.  They were able to spend Saturday, Sunday and on Monday morning he was gone.

He wanted to be with my mom.

I think we were ready to let him go, but we weren't ready for him to go.  Are we ever?

I was going to commit to blogging from the very first of the year, but missed the whole first week because I was with my family saying "bye and I love you" to my Dad.

And still longing to hear him say, just one more time, "Love you back."

I intend to blog more this year.  Even now, I just feel a little more put together; my head, heart and spirit a bit more straight.  I have a few interesting projects in mind, including for my head, my heart and my spirit.