gathering angels

i'm not sure where, or how to start...

these past several weeks have been a blur. i don't know how to write about this publicly, but i feel a strong need to do so... it all started with my Daddy falling on Mother's Day


in honor of my daddy "LTC (Lieutenant Colonel) Daddio" as i fondly call and refer to him -and STill and WiLL continue to do so.... 

October 7, 1923 - June 9, 2008

My Daddy and the Beauty Queen moved here (Sept 2006) because Jim and I had. They came for a visit, they saw, they liked it, and made a decision to live here. Who wouldn't??  IF my Daddy were still alive, he might write another amendment to the Bible! (i should share with you his "on the sixth day, God created" ... story!) He became a REaL Arkansas "mountain man, hippie", i would tell him. i LoVed him so much... jim sez this picture shows the glimmer of a trouble maker's eyes...

I LoVe YOU, Daddy....

and i'm going to miss you, terribly....

He left us with MaNY memories .. He started his "memoirs" in 2000, wrote his own eulogy in 2005, and has left us a book of his life. WHaT a gift. We all knew about it, but he said he'd rather we wait to read it. i think we were each given the privilege of reading a chapter, or part of a chapter. But, The Epilogue was hidden... crafty man!... i've only JuST begun to read all of what he wrote. 

He explained the memoirs were mostly HIS life "pre US" -with small references-

3 wars, lung cancer and imbalance.. 

My daddy.. in your final words, you hoped we remembered you with love… from the deepest part of my heart, i am going to miss you, daddy... and now there are tears.. tears you speak of many times in the writings you've left behind. i promise to honor our memories..... i can only say that i am BEyONd BLeSSeD to have had the past couple of years to spend with you...

always, daughterio