Dad passed away February 21st 2020
I got the call about 9:00 pm from North Carolina which was in the middle of the night there. We knew the call would be coming any day. My dad's battle with cancer was over and he finally free from pain and the shackles of a body that was no longer functioning.
This was right before he went into the hospital for the last time and didn't come home. He was passing out Halloween candy and this was his costume.
Mom most especially admired him for his courage during his 2 year battle with pancreatic cancer. He stayed upbeat and didn't complain. He didn't talk too much about his prognosis or the future but just tried to enjoy the day and the moment he was in. Whether it was a good meal or a phone call he tried to stay positive and present as much as he could while battling through pain and the breakdown of his body.
We were grateful that all the sisters could make it out for the funeral and most of the husbands. We were there to help mom with the arrangements, sift through pictures for a slide show and reminisce and enjoy spending time together as a family.
It was very busy in the days before the funeral as we planned the program and went through thousands of pictures and multiple boxes of memorabilia.
The service was beautiful. I agreed to do the eulogy (which he had written ahead of time) and ralized how hard it was once I was there and having to do it.
Dad looked good, but not like himself. We felt his spirit with us though and felt he was with us.
So glad that I had Jeff there with me.
Jeff gave the dedicatory prayer at the graveside.
The ward was nice enough to put on a luncheon after the services and we got to meet and thank everyone for helping my mom and dad out, especially during his illness.
Glad my sisters were there to mourn and celebrate his life together.
The day after the funeral before Jeff and Joel flew back home we decided to go to downtown Raleigh. I was surprised that mom and dad had never been to the downtown even though it was only 30 minutes away.
Mom seemed happy to get out with us and be there that day.
We explored the history museum there that was free to the public...
We ate lunch at the food lab in town where you got to pick what food vendor you wanted to order from and we all got to eat what we picked together.
Michelle and Reese left for home after this and Jeff flew home soon after.
Mom had her mind mad up that she wasn't wanting to move away from North Carolina so Angela and I stayed a few more days to clean up as much of her things as we could before we had to get back home.
Luckily mom was ready to get rid of a lot of things and so we cleaned out a LOT of clothes and most of the boxes in the garage which was a big job.
We divided up and mailed home a lot of our own memorabilia, we sold what we could on Facebook marketplace (due to Angela) and then gave away the rest which was picked up from the curb when Angela advertised it.
This was all the trash and recycling we were left with when we were done and luckily a friend from the ward was willing to help mom bring it out to the curb for her.
The last thing we did was go to Khols and do some shopping for mom...she didn't want to come with us so we just did the best we could and bought what we thought she would like and luckily she liked all of it! (Angela also tried straightening her hair for her to try something new).
We were glad to be able to celebrate dad and help mom while we were there.
We also got to go through a lot of fun old pictures that were in the boxes.
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