The passing of Dad N

I think one of the reasons that I have been neglecting blogging lately (in addition to our move) is that DH's father passed away on November 11, 2013 - just 9 days after DH's sister's wedding - and this has been a hard thing for me to want to blog about.  Those last few weeks of his life were a very tough time period for all of us in the family.  When we saw him for the wedding, we had no idea that he would go as quickly as he did.  I think we all believe that he was holding onto life as hard as he could so that he could be there for that special day and then once that passed he finally felt free to let go.  We "saw" him alive for the last time through Facetime the day before he passed away and he did not look good at all.  We knew immediately when we saw him that he was not going to be with us much longer.  We tried to get a plane ticket for DH to fly out there to be with his mom and sister at this time but then Dad N ended up passing away in the early afternoon on Monday and it was too late.  DH flew out that next day to be with his mom and siblings and I started making preparations to drive up there with the kids that weekend.

Amazingly all of us siblings and spouses and all the grandkids were able to make it for the funeral - even DH's brother's family that were living overseas were all able to be there.  In each of our cases, the brothers were able to get there early to be there for their mom and to spend time together and then those of us wives came separately with all of our kids in tow.  For me and Nae it meant driving the kids there on our own (6 1/2 hours for Nae and 12 1/2 hours for me), and for Cher it meant flying halfway around the world with her 3 kids in tow!

We had some good times remembering Dad N and looking through pictures and some of the things that he loved.  It was a beautiful funeral service where each of the 4 children spoke, the grandkids sang a primary song (with M&M playing the piano for it) and DH's sister sang a solo as well.

Dad N was a good man with fierce loyalties and a tenderness to him that most people did not see.  Yes he had his faults as well, but so do we all.  He fiercely loved his family and was very proud of each and every one.  I think that at times he would look in amazement at his kids and grandkids and the great posterity that he ended up with and wonder what he did to deserve it.  He was/is such a huge, dominant part of the family that it was kind of surreal being in the home and not having him there.  We all kept expecting him to walk into the room or drive into the garage.  He will be greatly missed!

Both of these pictures were taken at the cemetery following the graveside ceremony.

** Once I get access to DH's pictures I will post some more pictures of our trip and the funeral.