His funeral was yesterday and went very well I think. It was a little long because several people shared memories, but I think it was appropriate for all he did and the lives he impacted. Growing up I never realized how many people knew him and loved him. I didn't care about his "title" at Clarke College, or even that he was a preacher. It didn't really matter to me what others thought about him, but only what I thought. All I knew is that he loved me and my brother with everything he had. He and my mamaw would come up to our house almost every Friday and spend the night. These Friday night gatherings were my life!!! We looked forward to Mamaw bringing her spaghetti, and rice krispie treats. We also looked forward to our game nights of Monopoly and Clue. My brother would always seem to win (obviously by cheating) but Papaw never minded.
On a typical Friday night you could also find us rolling the ball in the hallway (or throwing it). I can still hear my moma in the kitchen telling us to "calm it down". We would get so rowdy with that ball, but it didn't stop Papaw and us from rolling it. The goal was the roll it from one end of the hall to the other without it rolling into one of the bedrooms (or bathroom). Another typical activity was the favorite "Alligator". My brother Jason and I would get back on my moma and daddy's big king bed and he would creep down the hall into the bed room and try to catch us. He was the alligator and we couldn't get off the bed because we'd get 'eaten up' by the alligator. I know we did TONS of screaming and laughing, but it didn't seem to bother him.
Then there were those Saturdays we spent together after all our Friday night fun. We would spend them usually outside (since we screamed so much inside the night before driving everyone crazy). Papaw would push us up and down the driveway in our little red wagon he'd bought for us. He would use the end of the broom stick to push while we steered it. He also spent many hours down in the "bottom" with us, all in the woods, riding on low tree limbs and climbing on haybales. I will never forget about the time we were both on a low pine branch and one of us did something and the limb came back and hit my on the lip and busted my lip. He was so upset and felt so terrible about it. There were NO limits to what he would do for us.
As we grew up they still came on Friday nights, but the typical child hood activities faded away. We then spent time talking and just enjoying each others company. When I graduated high school I decided to attend East Central C.C. nearby and to live with them and commute from Newton. I was a very home-body girl, and had trouble even moving down to their house, but wouldn't trade those 2 years for anything. I know that me living with them changed their life as much as it did mine. Can you imagine mid 70 year olds taking in a college girl? Since I was a very good student a lot of my time was spent studying or working on art projects. I will never forget reading world literature trying to make sense of it, and having to get mamaw to tell Papaw to turn the tv down b/c I couldn't concentrate. I know poor thing missed out on alot of tv shows because he couldn't hear them.
The best memory from living down there with them was when Papaw would go walking with me on Clarke College's campus. If many of you know me you know I LOVE to walk for exercise. He didn't want me to go by myself so he'd walk with me up to the campus and then I'd take off while he walked and whistled all over the campus himself. On really cold days he'd follow me in the car and sit in the car while I walked, just making sure I was ok.
Yes, I am the most blessed person I think and was influenced by my Papaw in words more than I can ever explain. I always knew that I'd go in to the ministry some way, and he was SO proud when I told him I was going to Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary. He graduated from Southern Seminary and was proud that his grand-daughter graduated from Seminary too. Although I'm staying at home now, I know that I will one day get back into a church position full time in ministry, because God has called me to do that...but for now and this season I'm staying at home with the babies. The one thing I do know is that Papaw supported everything I ever did, as long as I knew it was God's will. Even though God called us to Georgia he never made a comment about us living far away, he just wanted us to obey God's call. Glenn and I both know that God has us where we are for a reason, and we also know in our hearts that we won't probably live there forever, but as long as we listen to God's call we can know and be reassured that we are in the right place.
I could never write all the memories of Papaw out, but I hope this has given you a glimpse of who he was to me. Thank you all for your prayers for our family during this difficult time. God bless you and I pray you have a wonderful rest of the week.
Today is New Year's Eve, and we hope that we can have our bonfire later. It's suppose to rain, so if it does I guess it'll be tomorrow, the only thing is it's going to be really COLD tomorrow. Today would be perfect because it's going to be 58 today. We'll see, and pray!!! Glenn's been enjoying hunting everyday. The past 2 morning's he has seen 4 deer (on each day). He's been tracking some bucks so we'll see what he see's today.
