Wednesday, December 30, 2009

Reflecting ...

I’m in a reflective mood because my father-in-law passed away on Sunday. For the past month, I have been working to put together a photo slideshow of his life. As I have collected and scanned the photos, and cropped and edited them, I couldn’t help but reflect on life … his life, my life, and life in general.

Out of my original 130 carefully-chosen photos, I could use only 50 of them for the slideshow to be produced by the funeral home for his memorial. How can I possibly edit his life down to 50 photographs?

His family rarely took photos while he was growing up, so there are only a few of him as a boy. This one was my favorite.




I must include a wedding photo. He and my mother-in-law were married for 57 years.





Many photos were taken of the two of them, with their sons or just by themselves … on Easter, or Christmas, or other special occasions.








His grandkids called him Pap Pap, and he was extremely close to all five of them.








He was always helping us here, and I doubt we could have achieved what we have with the renovation of this house without him. He was an electrical genius … scheming ways to snake wires through these old walls with minimal damage was one of his coolest achievements.

He loved working outside the most.  During mowing season, he spent every Thursday here, on the tractor or manning the string trimmer, to help us keep this place looking its best. (Sometimes, the tractor came in handy for other things, like when a delivery truck was stuck in the mud)








His favorite hobby was building and flying radio-controlled airplanes.





We all are secure in the belief that we will be together again. This world right now sure feels empty without him, though.




Godspeed, Dad.  We love you.

(written by Hartwood Roses.  Hartwood Roses Blog)

6 comments:

  1. I am very sorry for you and your family. Hopefully over the course of the New Year, your loss will become easier to live with.

    ReplyDelete
  2. I am sorry to read about the loss in your family. You have done a beautiful tribute of your father-in-law. You have a lovely family. Take good care and I would lie to wish you a blessed and healthy New Year 2010!

    ReplyDelete
  3. With tears in my eyes, my deepest sympathy.

    ReplyDelete
  4. I'm so sorry for your loss. What a lovely tribute you've given your father in law.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Very touching.The death of a parent
    is always a very emotional experience.

    ReplyDelete

Thanks for stopping by and reading what I share. Comments are welcome and very much appreciated. Spam and trolls are not!

Related Posts with Thumbnails