Last week I got a rare middle of the day text from Eric:
“Monday. 8 -12
inches of snow!!!”
Yea. Right. We live
in Nashville, TN. It always goes north of us. We never get that lucky! And that was days away. Anything could
have change.
Then I watched the weather myself that night and heard the
excitement in the weatherman’s voice. It
was contagious. They even talked about
Nashville on The Weather Channel! That’s
big time, baby! It wasn’t a matter of if we would get snow, but how much!!!
With a newfound faith in Eric and TWC’s forecast, I went on
a mission for snow pants and snow boots.
We were finally going to get our snow day! I even broke my cardinal rule of parenting - I told the kids. Eric was furious. He was convinced that I jinxed it and the
huge winter storm Octavia was just going to change course to teach me a lesson. He told me if we woke up to nothing on
Monday, he was going to high tail it into work and leave me with the fall out.
Well Octavia did slap my hands for being overzealous by
withholding the snow and instead raining down 2 – 3 inches of sleet. But we showed her!! We had a blast anyway. It turns out that sledding on sleet is way
more fun than ice. We sled for
hours. Shed our clothes. Rested.
Threw them in the dryer. Got
dressed again and went for round two!
Today we were blessed with about an inch of that elusive
snow. It was so beautiful to watch it
fall at a rapid rate this morning. Right
after breakfast we dressed again to enjoy some of the powder. Eric went into work late in order to give the
roads time to clear, so he was able to play too. They all worked hard on building a
snowman. The snow wasn’t the best for
it, but we made the best of it.
Just as we were finishing up, I received a text from my Dad
telling me that my grandpa, Papatch, passed away. It wasn’t a surprise. His health had been deteriorating over the
last several months and had progressively gotten worse over the last few days. Even when you have been preparing yourself
mentally for a while, to know that they are really gone, it is tough.
I think back to my best memories of him growing up. We didn’t live close to them. We were in Houston and they were in the
panhandle of Texas. Most years I would
see them at Christmas and maybe another trip during the year. But the time that we had together was always
so sweet.
We loved to play games together. He and Grandma we kids at heart. We would play spoons, Canasta, Solitaire, or
any card game. Grandma would usually
“cheat” and we would laugh and laugh. He
had the best laugh. A belly laugh that
usually ended with a “Woo Hoo” as he rubbed his round belly.
I remember going and staying with them one summer when I was
little. Papatch had his new Super
Nintendo all ready to go for me. I was
determined to finally save the princess.
He tried to teach me how to get turtle tips so I could get a gazillion
lives. I never could get it. He would load me up with a ton before he
headed to bed. I stayed up all hours of
the night using all Papatch’s turtle tips trying to save that dang
princess. The next morning he woke me up. "Did you get her, Steffer??" Nope. So he just got me more and told me to keep at
it. For the record, I still have not
saved the princess.
We almost lost him a few years ago when he had a debilitating stroke. For a while we didn't know if he would wake up. When he finally did, we didn't think he would regain the use of the left side of his body. Less than a year later, he was playing golf with my dad for the first time since the stroke and got a hole in one. The 8th hole in one in his lifetime!!
It is times like these that I am so thankful for my
faith. It is a faith that has been passed down
to me from generation to generation. It was such a comfort to be able to share that with my children... the next generation. As sad as I am to say Goodbye to
Papatch, I know that he said Hello to His Heavenly Father today. There is not a question in my mind. He probably played a few rounds of golf with
his son, Gary. And I imagine he, Grandma
and Uncle Gary are playing a mean game of Canasta and laughing until they cry. I wonder if Grandma gets away with her
cheating in Heaven?
Yes I know that he is in Heaven with many of our loved ones
and I will see him again when we all go to Heaven. As he would say “Sho Nuff.”
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