We'll Miss You, Dedaddy

On May 17th, Martin Perrin, my dedaddy, passed away to join his Father in Heaven. Dedaddy was 95 years old! I wish we had been able to see him more over the years; but distance kept the trips to only once a year or so. He was such a wonderful, delightful man who loved God, country and family more than life itself. He came through the depression and served in WWII (on the USS Wisconsin) like many of our grandfathers - I do believe they were the greatest generation - so humble, loyal and patriotic. That image of our country is all but gone. I feel so honored to have two grandfathers who love(d) God, family and country as much as they. One memory I have of him is that he used to always say "Law, law"! This was basically a conversation filler for him and we thought it was so funny. I have never, ever heard anyone else say that. We grandkids would crack up every time he did! Another one is that he was pretty meticulous about keeping up the yard. Even at 94, he was doing all the yard work and trying to climb on the roof of the house to get the leaves out of the gutters! In the last few years, he would harvest these Mole Beans that were supposed to keep the moles away, I think. He would go down in the basement and shell pod after pod - and they were hard to shell! It would take forever; but it was rewarding to him. I appreciated his perseverance.

Ellie and I were able to go up for the funeral in Tennessee. We picked up my sister, Amy, on the way and traveled on up to meet mom, dad, brothers and the rest of the family. This is the first relative close to me who has died in my lifetime! I wasn't sure how I would take it, having never really experienced death that close. But, since it was somewhat expected, he was 95 years old and we know that he is now in heaven, my heart was at peace. Obviously I'm sad that he's not here anymore and I'm sad for Memaw that she's lost her beloved, I'm so thankful for the legacy he left behind. What a great man! Ellie actually did quite well too. We decided there wasn't going to be any sugar-coating it - the truth was the best thing to tell her - and she seemed to get it in her little 2 year old mind. We explained that sometimes people die and if they know Jesus, like Dedaddy did, they get to go to heaven and even though we won't see them anymore, they can see us. We also told her that was was probably talking to Abraham, David, Joshua and other people she's been learning about in the Bible.

It was so good to have her there to lighten the mood a little - okay, a lot. I think Memaw really benefited from her being there as well. All my cousins who are all grown now, loved on her like crazy. It really was a good weekend. Oh, I forgot to mention that since he was military, my uncle arranged a military service for him. That was really cool and very emotional. I'm so thankful for our faith that makes us unafraid in times of death because we know that there's more to this life and we'll see our loved ones again!