We Now Return to Normal Broadcasting…

I’m writing this just a few hours after that final farewell, because facing the office and that empty chair tomorrow will be hard enough.  Maybe there will be a Motif Sock completed to share tomorrow, but no promises. 

(We interrupt this post to ask why WordPress won’t leave the dang tree/photo insert icon alone?!  It really wasn’t nice to have to struggle a bit on how to post the photo today.  Sure, I figured it out and this works fine, but I was used the the tree, and it’s not like it took up a lot of space on the tool bar…)

Eh-hem… 

Again, I thank each of you for your kind thoughts and support through a very difficult time.  I apologize for this rather impersonal reply, but for whatever reason, trying to say thank you to each of you is just too painful for me.  Forgive me.

Several of you have asked about dear little Shadow.  Heck, one family friend at family night flat-out asked if the puppy in the photo needed a home!  No, rest assured, Pop provided for this change in Shadow’s life almost as soon as the pup became a part of our family.  Pop had asked my inlaws almost immediately if, when something happened to him, Shadow could become their dog.  He is adjusting with the ease of a dog who had a few overnight visits with the inlaws and Nick already, and he will continue to come to work with Dae when the four of them aren’t camping.

I owe a few very special thank yous to some non-blogging friends, who will likely never see this, but nevertheless…  We are blessed to have employees, present and past, who showed up to grieve with us, who set aside their own comfort levels and served as pall bearers, brought food, and otherwise held us together.  Likewise, it was no surprise that one very special family was ever-present throughout our blur of loss.  One son sang and provided the perfect piano music for the funeral, another son served as a pall bearer, and a third travelled half of the state just to give me a few hugs at graveside.  (Hush.  Yes, I know he came up for the rest of the family too…)  My sister, always so supportive, and MJ’s best friend worked their bad backs to their limits to assure that the mourners had the best meal possible after the funeral.  Dae’s youngest aunt was right there all weekend, so that my inlaws didn’t have to answer a phone or even open a door unless they felt like it. 

Then, there were my brothers, the firefighters who always show up as honorary pall bearers, who made sure that I got a hard hug when I needed one, and who sent about half of the sanctuary full of flowers, or so it seemed.  They continue to check on the Knight, and because I am so secure in their love and support, I was able to encourage him to go to the station for a few hours this evening, leaving me my solitude to let the tears flow.  They even know to turn and ask me, right in front of my Knight, how *HE* is really doing.  If you haven’t been a part of the emergency services family, I’m afraid there simply are no words for me to use to help you understand how real that extended family is.

Flowers, cards, little care packages, emails, blog comments, signing the online guest book (no link… sorry… as open as I am, I do have my moments of privacy)…  it was all noted and heartily appreciated.  Those closest to me know this has rocked me in a way even my own grandmother’s death did not, but we are indeed okay.  Pop lived a long life, and the last few days made us all well aware of how many lives he touched, and often deeply so.  I will start working on a post to share with you on his birthday, so you too can know more about the incredible character we’ve lost. 

Now, we return to normal blogging.  The rest of life will fall in line in due time.