2/19/11

Honoring Poppop

 

Poppop was a Navy Man.  And he was proud of that.  He had stories to tell of being in the Navy, stories that meant the world to him and stories he needed to share. 

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We first went to Arlington National Cemetery nearly 11 year ago when mommom died.  And yesterday we went again to honor poppop as a father, a husband, a grandfather and a soldier. 

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Mommom and Poppop had a wonderful love story.  They first met on a lake, in canoe’s when Poppop tried to get Mommom’s attention by tipping her canoe causing her to fall out.  She could not swim and had to doggie paddle back to shore. 

Guess when she fell out, she fell for him too.  They tried to elope when she was 16, and he 21.  The taxi driver sent them home again and told them to wait.  When she was 18, she met him somewhere out towards California and they married.  Then they started their life together in San Diego at the Naval base. 

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He always referred to her as ‘My Bride’.  He singed cards to her as, Love. your first husband.  People who read those cards wondered if she’d be married before and why she was still getting cards from ‘the first husband’.  Poppop would laugh.  Oh, the scandal!

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They loved music together

And the Shore

and their Grandchildren; all 9 of us. 

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He retired and then began working at a funeral parlor.   He loved it there.  He and Mommom would together go and pick up dead bodies anytime day and night.  They would pick us up for school in a green funeral limo or even the hearse and we loved that.  (Until middle school when it was a bit embarrassing to be dropped off in a green limo…)

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They were married for nearly 60 years

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He missed her terribly these last 10 years. 

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Yesterday, we honored him and he would have loved it.  The 21 gun salute, the trumpet playing, the military honor, the men and women who stood saluting, the flag.  It would have brought tears to his eyes. 

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And we are so proud of him.  Proud of the way he fought for his country and cared about his fellow soldiers.  Proud of how he loved his wife and honored her and served her and laughed with her.  Proud of how he loved his children and his grandchildren and his great grandchildren. 

We are proud

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And we rejoice that he is with his bride and with his Savior.  We are thankful that he is whole again and can run and jump and hear well and see clearly and move without pain.  We are reassured because of his faith in Christ that he is now honoring God with all of his being because we know and trust in the promises of God. 

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See, our God is a God of healing and wholeness and restoration – both here in this world and in the Kingdom of God.  God loves us so, that He sent His one and only Son to bring about restoration and healing in our relationship with God.  And so that here on earth our brokenness with each other and our brokenness within our own selves can be restored and healed and whole. 

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Praise to God for the gift of life and the gift to knowing and being loved by our Savior. 

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What a special day yesterday was for us as a family, a time to be together and celebrate the life of a man who has made us proud

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And how thankful we are in more ways then just in this picture above- a husband and wife are together again.

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