5.12.14

Our last week together...

My Dad's favorite place in the whole world is the beach, and we had an absolutely perfect week - sunny and 80* every day.  We were all so happy, and we just enjoyed being in each other’s company.  The guys helped Jaidie and Mason fish and we built many sandcastles.

On our last night, we all had seafood at "The Back Porch" - my Dad ordered shrimp and grouper and a big margarita!  He kept saying over and over how delicious it all was - the best meal of his life!  Afterwards, Josh and Dad walked the kids over to the ice cream shop.  Mason doesn't particularly like ice cream, so they joked about how he ordered a bowl full of toppings.  We walked the beach, and watched the sunset. 

And it was a perfect evening.

 I'm so grateful we were able to spend this last week with him. 

He had recently started helping coach Jaidie's soccer team, and he talked with pride about how good she was.  I could tell he was so excited to be back in this sport.  He reminisced on when he coached Reanne for so many years, and his eyes lit up when he talked about it.  He chased the boys on the beach and threw Mason in the air.  He talked about how Vince (with his big blue eyes and huge smile) was going to be our charmer, and how he had such a great personality.  He said Vince reminded him of himself when he was little, always wanting to play with a ball!  He talked about how Mason was always tinkering with his tools, and loved to go for rides on his lawn mower.  He loved his grandkids so so much.  He said several times he was so proud of Josh and I, and would brag on us any chance he would get.

We were a close knit bunch, and he was our backbone.

Our Rock.

Here’s a few of our pictures of our trip last week, because these make me smile...

So on Thursday afternoon, our beach vacation had ended and we packed up the cars and headed for home.  My Dad was in a good mood and seemed to be feeling great.

About an hour into our drive, we got the call that my grandma had just passed away peacefully at her home.

My Dad and I were disagreeing about what the fastest way to get home would be.  He was referencing his map (the one that is older than I am) while I was using the GPS on my IPhone.  We are both so stubborn and didn't want to budge on whose way was better, so we decided to go our separate ways and meet up on I-65.  My Mom wouldn't have anything to do with us separating, and since she had just lost her Mother, my Dad gave in and agreed to follow me.  So we headed off, my Mom and Dad following us with the kids.

The running joke in the family is how Jaidie Rose has to pee every 5 minutes, and it wasn't much later (around 6:45pm) that she started complaining that she needed to go.  I saw an exit (Pine Apple, Alabama) a few miles ahead, and the signs told us there wouldn't be another for 20 miles so I decided to pull off the interstate.

As we pulled up to McDonalds, we all unloaded from the car while my Dad finished up on the phone.  He told us what he wanted to eat, and seemed completely fine.

As he was walking into the restaurant, he collapsed on the ground and had a massive heart attack.

No signs. No symptoms. No reason for us to believe anything would happen.  He had recently been to the doctor and walked away with a clean bill of health.

Josh was the first to get to him, with me following next.  We immediately started CPR and the ambulance arrived within 5 minutes.  They shocked his heart with the defibrillator and tried to give him medicine to get a heartbeat. 

We all watched, and I'm not sure if I'll ever get those last few minutes out of my head.

I never felt a pulse, I don't think he ever took another breath.

They transported him to Stabler Hospital (which is about the size of a Days Inn, and immediately gave me a huge pit in my stomach) and said they had done everything they could do...but he was gone.

So there we were...just us and the kids in a tiny little town in southern Alabama, 10 hours from home...and our whole world had shattered in the blink of an eye.

I'm really not even sure how we made it home...

So how are the kids...

Mason is convinced Papaw is just sleeping at the doctor, Jaidie gets it but is understandably taking it the hardest, and Vince walks around asking for his Papaw.  

The only Papaw they've ever known, and all of our hearts are broken.

He was our Dad, our Papaw, our babysitter, our errand runner, the best cook ever, and he would drop anything he was doing to help his kids and grandkids. He could fix anything, and we had a long list of projects to start together on our house.  He had tilled the garden, and were going to plant this weekend.

We all miss him so much and haven't been able to even process most of this, but I want to thank everyone for their prayers, and the food, the flowers, the hugs, and for keeping us company this week.  My Dad was loved by so many, and he will be missed.

But one day we WILL meet again.