Thanksgiving

During this time of Thanksgiving, I am thankful for my family and friends -- blood relatives and those who've taken us in as their own without any blood connection. Those people who have been there for us through thick and thin. Like wedding vows: In good times and in bad. For better and for worse. In sickness and in health. Til death do us part. That last part is what's weighing on my heart heavily right now as we lost Scotty's grandfather, Papaw as he was known to all of us, Wednesday afternoon. I am thankful to have had Papaw in my life for the past 13+ years. He and Mamaw (all of Scotty's family, really) have always treated me like one of their own and I've always thought of them in the same regard as my own. I was especially close to my Mamaw and recognized the same strong bond between Scotty and his grandparents when we first started dating.

I haven't talked about Papaw's situation much b/c I try to keep this blog/life record of sorts on a positive slope more than a negative. However, I can't let big things like this happen without documenting them. Papaw had a stroke on January 1st. He was in the hospital for over three months before being transferred to the nursing home. We were all astonished at the progress he made since we really didn't expect him to make it a week following the stroke. But he did, and the spirit of perseverance that he'd always had prevailed once again. He was even able to come home for nearly 4 months before having to go back to the hospital for what turned out to be a UTI at the end of October. Things were more severe than we thought and Pap had to stay in the hospital for 2 weeks before he was disharged to the nursing home. Things continued to go downhill from there until Papaw passed away peacefully surrounded by loving family on Wednesday. Scotty wasn't called until after, which is good b/c he wouldn't have made it up there in time anyway. And while his passing wasn't unexpected and really a blessing given the circumstances, that doesn't make losing a loved one easy -- but in some ways it does soften the blow.

For Scotty, his Papaw was larger than life and an example of an exemplary human being. He looked up to Papaw as we all did. Papaw was a huge family man and was liked by all. He could fix anything and we'd even called him several times over the years for an over-the-phone diagnosis of a problem. There was no issue that he didn't have a solution for and a story to go along with it. Papaw was a great man, and he will be missed by all who knew him -- especially by those of us who were fortunate enough to be a part of his family.

We had the service on Saturday and it was a beautiful celebration of Papaw's life. Scotty's cousin Shelby sang a song ("Temporary Life" by Carrie Underwood -- a tearjerker given the circumstances), and both Scotty and Lee spoke of Papaw's influence on them and then shared some funny Papaw stories. Then Uncle Davey spoke of both serious and funny things. All three speakers were excellent and it's obvious that the apple didn't fall far from the tree. :)

Here's a pic of a 6-week-old David Scott and Papaw last Christmas:







I love this picture as being a grandfather and now a great grandfather was something Papaw took great pride in. We will continue to pass along his legacy of a love for family and good friends. Although DS didn't have that much time with Papaw, he will know him, just like he'll know his Bud Bud, and our family friend Henry who both still cross my mind and heart regularly.

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