“See You Later”

While this blog post is not specifically about progress being made on our home, it is about our lives and about the trials and tribulations of our family during our renovation.  Therefore, I would be remiss if I did not write a blog entry about my dad passing away.  He lived with us for almost a year, and lived through the noise and dust of the construction right along with us.  I am sad that he will not be here to see it finished, and will not be able to live with us in our completed forever home.  He passed on June 28th.

And while, yes, it is sad, I can find comfort in knowing that he is with my mom, and they are looking down on us, continuing to watch the progress together.  The word “passed” is a good word to use when talking about death.  For when we die, I believe we truly are just “passing on” to a different life.  There is comfort at a time like this when you can draw strength from your faith.  I still have the refrain going through my head from the song we sang in church the morning my dad passed:

     “We will run and not grow weary;

      for our God will be our strength,

      and we will fly like the eagle,

      we will rise again”.

The day after we arrived at my dad’s house we were all sitting on the back deck, enjoying a beautiful summer day.  We looked up and saw this strange circle around the sun:

Perfect ring around the sun

We all felt that is was my dad saying, “Hi, there. Everything’s going to be alright.  I’m in a good place”.  That rang even more true when I learned that this ring around the sun is called a halo. . .

I thought it would be good to post some pictures of my dad’s home, the home I grew up in; the home where we spent hours reminiscing about the good times we had with Dad.

We were greeted with yellow roses bursting in full bloom; I have never seen them like this before.

The house from the street

The wonderful deck on the back of the house.

My room growing up is the window on the left

The backyard; lots of land that has been home to corn, potatoes, blueberries, Christmas trees. . .

The “lower lot” as my parents liked to call it. Once home to raspberries, now home to wildflowers

More wildflowers

White roses growing along the deck

Pink roses, also along the deck

Blueberries in the back

Hope the neighbors enjoy the blueberries before the birds and chipmunks do!

Wildflowers growing in the old flower bed

Happy daisies!

You were always welcome here

As a Navy Mom I have learned to never say, “Goodbye”.  When your Sailor is leaving to go back to their duty station, or leaving on a deployment, you always say, “See You Later”.

So, I’ll just say, “See You Later, Dad”.