Thursday - January 10

Good morning from the Key West airport.    Mark and I are still a bit numb that this is really happening…..flying home to bid a final farewell to his Dad    Jane and Joe brought us here this morning and we enjoyed a wonderful breakfast at Blue Heaven.      What a comfort and support they have been – deja’vu all over again as we were together one year ago here in Marathon when my Dad died.
Mark had a long chat with his Mom this morning……these next few days will be so hard for her – losing her best friend after almost 67 years of marriage.     Together they raised 13 children (10 daughters and 3 sons);  38 grandchildren (19 of each) and 26 great grandchildren with 3 more due in 2013 – boys are ahead at this point.    Mom and Dad still lived in their own home; he made daily trips to the coffee shop (sometimes 2x a day) and so enjoyed his buddies as they caught up on the latest.    He was a big fan of Fannie May chocolates and eating in general!   And cards – oh how he loved to play cards (500)!!!
Last night (thru tears) I read many postings on Facebook from Dad’s grandchildren….so many happy memories, photos and personal tidbits about their Grandpa.   He was a man of great faith, life-long farmer who was very family-oriented, loved a good story and had a delightful sense of humor with a very sharp mind
Thank you for your e-mails, texts and phone calls – all so much appreciated.
As I write this…we are almost home (had a delay in Atlanta due to a computer malfunction on our plane) so had to get off the plane and finally on our way on a different plane – we’ll be around 1.5 hours late.   We are staying with Anne, Patrick and the boys tonight – tomorrow, off to Dixon for hugs, tears and memories.
On Saturday we shall honor this great man who would not want a fuss made over him, but with his large, boisterous, fun-loving family, it promises to be a grand celebration for sure….

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