Legacy

I fly home today, after a too-short visit with Mom and Dad.  We've said what needs to be said, which is good - I'm not sure I'll get to see him again.

Thanks to everyone who's left comments during this long, sad journey.  Thanks especially to Stephany and Brigid, whose advice has been particularly helpful.  Say what needs to be said.  Don't leave things unsaid.  Every day is a gift.

SheDAISY's He's A Hero hits very close to home:

He's a young man
In his golden years
His hair of black now quickly fades to gray
The limp as he walks is his only souvenir
From those purple-hearted war time days

But you don't hear him complain
No matter how the fall
I don't have a lot, he'd smile and say
But lord I have it all

He's a hero
In my mother's eyes
He taught her how to raise me right
and never compromise
He always says he has the
finer things in life
Somewhere to live, someone to love
and the Good book to live by

Some say his heart is big
All though his fortune's small
I don't have a lot, he'd smile and say
But lord I have it all

A rembrandt in his own right
A master at his craft
Creating something beautiful
A memory that will last
And always last

He's the constant
In our family
Beginning this long line of love
We've cared
And even when he's gone he'll watch over me
When I close my eyes at night I feel him there

Wear my name, well my child
Be true and stand tall
You don't have a lot he'd always say
But lord you have it all

You don't have a lot he'd always say
But thank the Lord you have it all

Hero in my mother's eyes

Watching Mom makes me realize that the most beautiful and the most terrible terrifying words in the English language are in sickness and in health, until Death do us part. She's quite an inspiration.

I've written before about the curious problem of Grace, but it boils down to this:

If you were going to die soon
and had only one phone call you could make,
who would you call and what would you say?

And why are you waiting?

I'm sure glad I made that call.

And you might want to stop by Stephany's, Brigid's, and Chris Byrnes' places right now, as they're also hearing life speak in its Outdoors Voice right now.