Wise Elder

Well, it has been over a week since my father-in-law passed away and I am still trying to figure out what to write. He was so many things to so many people. Knowing that, I can only write about what he meant to me.

When I first met my husband and it came time to meet his parents I was worried about meeting his mother. But for my husband, he was worried about me meeting his father. It went fine because I think his dad was just happy his son was dating someone and that was all that mattered to him.

As the years passed, I looked forward to his story telling, his jokes and his reminiscing of the past. I would listen carefully knowing he would leave hints to see if I could figure the true meaning of his message. Sometimes I got it but other times I didn't.

He was the first pastor who gave a sermon that met all my needs. Being hearing impaired I often got tired of concentrating on listening but with John, I had no problem staying focused, staying interested, and learning the message. There were times we would make the two and a half hour trip to his church just to attend church services so I could hear his sermon.

I have to say I admired his tenacity when it came to living his life after he got sick. I tend to be a homebody and don't try very hard to leave the house being both sight and hearing impaired. But John was always doing something even with his oxygen tank and his scooter. He and my mother-in-law built many model railroad gardens. Do you know how much work goes into that?

If I were to sum up John if a few words it would be the follwing:
He loved God.
He loved Betty.
He lived as God's servant.

My eight year old son said it best when he made a little flag to put on the model train at his funeral. The flag said, "Wise Elder."

Early Valentine

Pete and I went out for our Valentine dinner a couple days early. The food was very good and so was the company. We stopped at Fleet Farm to get him some suspenders so the people at work don't have to see his tushy. Also picked up a Wisconsin Badger shirt for Luke.

Dream

It's not often I have a funny dream. I actually wanted to go back to sleep to see what happened next.

In this dream, I was on the show 'Survivor' and the location was where I used to live as a kid. It had a dead end street with woods and hills. I thought I could win this game because I knew the area well. The first challenge was to retrieve something from a tall tree at a neighbors house. There were two ferris wheels one could ride to get to the top of the tree. I did not make it there in time and someone else got it. I went back to camp but got scared because there were two large pythons in my way so I called the host, Jeff Probst, to help me. He did help me but said since I was on 'Survivor' I should be able to do this myself.

We went to another challenge to eat lunch. I drank some blood from some animal and had to eat bat's wings. (Tasted like chicken!)

When they stopped filming for the day we hung out at the mall.

I really wished I could have seen what happened next.