Missing You

Has it really been a year? It doesn't seem that long since the Sunday morning I grabbed my mobile off the coffee table in my living room and noticed the missed call from my parents. I doesn't seem that long since I called them back with shaking hands, realizing before even dialing the number what they would probably tell me--that you were gone.

I still miss you. I miss my childhood. Summers spent on the farm...I miss fishing with you, going out into the fields with you on the tractor, Sunday walks, fall hayrides. I even miss you seeming to think that grandchildren were supposed to be you workforce. I still hate gardening to this day, but hey, I know how.

You were the one who gave me my first job.  You paid Steph and I $10 an hours to help bring in straw. That was a lot one money to a ten-year-old. And while we're on that topic, the fact that you paid $1 for every tooth we lost instead of a mere $0.25 was big deal to a six-year-old.

You taught me the value of hard work. Because, yes, while you paid $10 an hour, you made us work for it. I learned the value of hard work while digging up potatoes and weeding gardens, shucking corn, snapping beans, picking cherries. And I cherish those memories, those idyllic times spent on the farm.

You taught me to enjoy simple pleasures...fishing, taking an old row boat out onto the pond, swimming in the creek, walking through the woods. None of those things cost money, but they provided amazing memories.

And you taught me about strength of faith. You were a man of faith, who loved Jesus with all his heart. One of my very last memories of you is you singing "Jesus Loves Me" and "Amazing Grace". You may not have been thinking clearly at that point, but the one thing you knew beyond a doubt is that God loved you and you loved Him. And that is what gives me hope, the knowing that you aren't gone forever, that I will see you again. So, while I miss you and will be thinking about you a lot over the next few days, I am so happy to know where you are, that this is not the end, and that you're with Jesus. I miss you, Poppy, but I am so glad to know that you are somewhere better. 

Until we meet again.