Happy Birthday Dad

Happy Birthday Dad. Today my dad would be 72. There are still days when it does not feel like he is gone. We always had coffee together on the weekends and there are times when I walk in that I just expect him to be sitting in his recliner waiting on me. He would always try to feed me something. His favorite was cheese toast. I remember eating cheese toast as a little girl at my Grandma's, but I don't ever think I had it for breakfast. We all miss him very much but we are thankful that he is not suffering. My dad would have chosen quality of life over quantity any day. I went to the cemetery today and took pictures of his headstone and footstone. I am really not one for going to the cemetery but just felt like I needed to go say "Happy Birthday". I know that he is not there, but that is the last place his earthly body was. His footstone was given to him by the VA for his service to our country, it is much nicer than we had anticipated. My mom and sister picked out the headstone and it turned out really nice. Of course there is a fish on it, what else would we have put there? He would have liked it. The upcoming Holidays are really going to be hard without him. He loved Christmas, not for the gifts but for all the baked goods. That is one time a year that we did not get on his case about eating too many sweets. I inherited that from him....my downfall is sweets. Life goes on and we hang on to precious memories of him and rest in the promise that we will see him again one day.

Memory Quilt

My sister surprised me with this beautiful quilt created out of my Dad's Dickie coveralls. Wow, what an awesome gift. My favorite was the red. Me and mom talked him into getting them and when they came in he was not to sure about wearing them. I loved them on him and they looked great. We laughed and said that they were his Santa coveralls. One Christmas he and mom met Michael in Palestine to eat and Dad wore them, Michael really had fun teasing him about them. So the red ones were very special to me and now a piece of those memories will be with me always. I would have never thought about having something like this made and I am so glad that Stacye did. I will cherish it always and pass it down for generations. Thank you sis.

Pier Dedication

Today was a very special day for my family. The owners of the Limestone Marina (Ellie and John) had a dedication ceremony for my Dad at the pier. Some of his fishing buddies approached them with the idea of dedicating the spot my Dad always fished in to his memory. They were more than happy to do so. Along with me, Tommy, Mom and Stayce, several of his friends and church family gathered today at 10:00 a.m. to honor my Dad. John spoke about how my Dad was one of their first customers when they purchased the marina about 4 years ago. He said how much they were going to miss him and how in the winter Dad was one of the few true fisherman that fished. He stood in my Dad's favorite spot to fish and said that Dad would get upset when he showed up and someone was already in that spot. He commented that the fish had a chance now. A plaque was mounted right behind my Dad's spot with a picture of him and a crappie that he probably caught in that very same spot. It reads In Memory of a True Fisherman. Fred "Papa" Jones, November 8, 1937 - May 28, 2009. Fred Enjoyed Fishing Here at this Pier for Many Years. He was One of the Great Crappie Fisherman of Our Time. Mrs. Ellie had a great idea of everyone tossing in a minnow in his honor so we all took a minnow and on the count of 3 we tossed them in. I am sure Dad was throwing a fit about us wasting good minnows. If any minnows were left from a fishing trip he nursed them and kept them alive until the next one. My Mom thanked those that made this event possible and all those for coming. Pastor Lloyd said a prayer. There were many people that only knew Dad as the Donut Man because that was his pier payment for many years when Mr. King owned the pier. I think Dad is very honored to have his spot dedicated to him.

Father's Day Tribute

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Happy Father's Day

I join the many this year that do not have a Father physically here to hug and wish Happy Father's Day. Although my Dad is not here I can still celebrate the memories that God allows me to have and hold on too. Think about it, God blessed us with memory and I am thankful for the precious memories that I have of my Dad. If you still have your Dad on this earth, do not take it for granted. Tell him often how much you love him. Spend as much time with him as you can. Take lots of pictures and make memories. One day memories may be all you have. I miss my Daddy every day and I will not lie, I wish he were still here with us. But one thing I am thankful for is that I have no regrets. We had a wonderful relationship and I did my part as a daughter. Do not let your Dad leave this earth and leave you with regrets. If things are not right, make it right today. Life is short and we do not know when the last chance will be for us to say I love you, so just do it daily. Happy Father's Day Daddy and thank you for all the memories that we have together, I love you and I will see you again someday.

PaPa This One Is For You

This weekend Tommy and I fished. It was hard to go without Dad in the boat but he is the one that taught me to love to fish and he would want me to keep doing it. What would have been harder is going this summer and him having to stay at home. He would not have been able to go after he started the chemo because he could not be out in the sun. Saturday we hauled in 21 and today we had 19. The picture is of a 14 1/4" crappie I caught at one of our usual spots. When I got it in the boat, I said PaPa this one is for you. He would have said, now that's a slab, hurry up and get it in the boat. I will never forget and I will always cherish the memories I have of us fishing together. My Dad was the crappie king and I was lucky to learn from the best. If I was not catching fish he could not stand it and he would go to coaching me. He would say, Lisa Kay how many turns are you off the bottom? I would say I don't know Daddy 2 or 3. He would say go back down, come up 3 turns and then ease it up real slow and you will catch a fish. I would do what he said, he was usually right and I would catch a fish. I know that he was not physically in the boat but in my mind I could hear all the things that he would be saying to me. I know that he smiled today when I caught the big one. I miss you Daddy, thank you for all the memories that I have. I hope to someday have grandchildren that love to fish because I want your legacy to live on.

This Is Not Goodbye But See You Later

Yesterday was the last day that I will ever see my Dad in this life. I know that it was just his body laying there but it was still hard to say goodbye. But I know that it is only bye for now because I will see him later. He had a beautiful service and the crowd that assembled there proved that he and our family truly have a lot of friends. My daughter Jordan is overseas and we advised her not to come home, my Dad would have wanted her to stay there to complete her assignment for the summer. He was very proud 0f her and the dedication she has to serving our Lord. Below is something that she wrote and I read at the funeral.

Dear Friends and Family,

Let me start off by first saying how sorry I am that I am not able to be here with you today. Lots of prayer, tears, and guidance of others went into my decision to stay in Jordan. Honestly there was no way I could make the decision to stay here but my grandma made me promise I wouldn’t come home.

Today you came to this place to honor the life of my Papa. A simple man of few words is the best way I can think to describe him, although, if he was angry he was never at a loss for words. Just turn on a ball game and he was happy, let him sit outside and fish all day and he was happy, put one of the dogs on his lap and he was happy. He enjoyed the simple things in life. I think that today we can all learn something from him, slow down and enjoy what we have.

I know everyone here, like myself, will greatly miss Papa, Daddy, Fred, Mr. Fred, Mr. Jones, the do-nut man, or whoever he was to you. But today try and celebrate the life that he lived, try and remember the good times, and take rest knowing that right now he is with the Most High God telling the truth about the biggest fish he ever caught.

My Dad was proud of all his grandchildren and went to their activities when he could. We are all going to miss him very much but we can be assured that he will not have to be sick and suffer with cancer any longer. When he found out about the cancer he was so worried about going bald. He still had his hair and he looked very handsome. I just cannot thank all of you enough for the concern shown to us through all of this. We are truly blessed to have family and friends like you all. May God bless each of you and your families.

2 Corinthians 5:8 We are confident, yes, well pleased rather to be absent from the body and to be present with the Lord.