Check out these couple of pages…
Traveling to Alabama on May 12.
Traveling to Georgia on May 14.
Enjoy the pictures…
Dad
Memories of you will last forever,
You touched everyone’s lives,
Haven’t met a person yet,
That had an unkind word about you.
You always seemed so happy,
But never afraid to cry,
You never asked anything of anyone,
Except to give it their best try.
You have left a model for us to live by,
There are not enough words in the world,
To describe how we felt about you,
Even if we didn’t say them the way we should.
Dad, you are the reason I am the man,
That I am today and will be tomorrow,
You will be missed by so many,
You made a difference in the world we live.
People you have never met will miss you,
They will miss the kindness and the caring,
I wished that everyone could have met you,
Dad, I am so proud of you and to be your son.
The laughter and smiles you gave,
We know you loved us all,
An angel in heaven, you are to us,
Dad, We will always love you.
My Life
My life has taken a twist,
Never to be the same forever more,
Makes me cry and clinch my fist,
My heart aches…it is so sore.
I lost my father from this life,
I loved him so much more than I ever said,
I know he lived his life,
Knowing he was loved…even if it was unsaid.
Things now are so different,
Like sand flowing through a funnel,
Wish someone would give me a hint,
Life is strange…like living in a tunnel.
I miss my father a lot,
His laughter and his advice,
A hole in my life has bee shot,
It hurts me…like my life is in a vice.
It’s hard to face the fact that he is not longer with us,
That he isn’t here to give his love,
He might wonder what is all this fuss,
We miss you, dad…And you still have our love.
What can keep me going everyday,
It is my wonderful family,
Without their love each day,
The only way…life can still be happy.
I hope and pray he approves of this poem,
And the many more I will write,
I just want anything I write to do him justice,
I want him to be proud of me…to do this right.
Missing You, My Best Friend
For those that never knew you,
I hope that I can do some justice to your name,
I am still not sure what to do,
It’s been three long years, yet I am still the same.
Bryan was a special guy,
Only around him could I cry,
Why, oh why, did you have to die?
I am missing you, my best friend.
He loved to go out and have a good time,
Shooting pool and listening to music,
Metallica was a favorite of his and mine.
I am missing you, my best friend.
Our favorite hangout, The Vapors,
Spending the weekend listening to the bands,
Drinking beer and having fun.
I am missing you, my best friend.
Loved by all the girls,
And he loved them all back,
I could tell that he was always true.
They are missing you, my best friend.
He was tough for being small,
Never backing down from a fight,
Even though he knew that fighting isn’t right.
I am missing you, my best friend.
He loved God and Jesus,
And I know they love him back,
And in their kingdom, he now rests.
I am missing you, my best friend.
And if he was here today,
We’d be doing the same,
Drinking beer and playing pool,
Listening to the music we love.
Meeting my new friends,
I know he would like them all,
For he is just that type of guy,
I am missing you, my best friend.
I am not ashamed to say that I loved him,
He was my best friend and a big part of my world,
Even though he is gone now,
He is still in my heart, a big part of my world….
I am missing you, my best friend…
In December 2000, my father passed away (from what we know from the autopsy) from coronary artery disease. He collapsed on the street 2 houses down from my Mom’s on December 1, 2000. Her street is not very busy, so nobody saw him for maybe 30 minutes.
I was living in Norcross, GA at the time. It was a Friday night and I had just got home from work and sat down on the couch to relax and I got a call from my sister-in-law to tell me that had found him on the road and the ambulance had come and taken him to the hospital. He was pronounced dead at the hospital.
I was at my apartment clutching the phone wanting it to ring to get an update. Was he going to be okay? Do the doctors know anything? Instead of a phone call, I got a visit from my aunt and my cousin… as soon as I answered the door and saw who was there, I knew something was wrong. They broke the news to me. It was the hardest thing I have ever had to hear.
Not only was I devastated, but I felt guilty that I wasn’t there for my family. I was 4 hours away. My mom told my aunt and my cousin to drive me home. She did not want me driving myself. My aunt and cousin had to go back to their house to pack. It seemingly took hours. Hours that I could have used to drive home. I stared at my car knowing I could leave. But I remembered what my Mom had said. I did not drive home. She had enough on her mind to worry about me driving.
I got home and the weekend was surreal. I took a week off of work. We had to go to the funeral home to make arrangements and goto the Church to make further arrangements with the Priest. My Dad wanted a full Catholic funeral. So, we had a wake before the viewing began. The viewing lasted more than 3 hours of solid hugs, handshaking, and tears.
The funeral was at Our Lady, Queen of the Universe Catholic Church in Huntsville. I will say that this was the most comforting funeral service (funeral mass) that I have been a part of. Even though, my Dad was gone, I felt at peace for that time.
All of my uncles and my Grandfather came down from Seattle for the week. I was good to see them, but I sure would have preferred it to have been under better circumstances.
This is the tribute site that I setup for my father.
Here you will find several tributes and other items.
One last thing, this is the last thing that he gave me:
I have only ever played it twice. I ripped into iTunes so that I could listen to it. It is now part of the centerpiece of my coffee table which includes some of the items I placed into the link above.
Through reading this and my tribute page, you can only get a small sense of who my Dad was. I miss him each and every day.