A great man

My husband is a great man.

He the most patient person I’ve ever met. He loves so true and deep. He is never threatened when I succeed – he encourages me, drives me, inspires me. He is gentle and calm and when I see a bug (and jump on the chair screaming), he will pick it up and take it outside rather than kill it. When I have a problem and ask him what I should do, he is always, always, ALWAYS right.

He works 12 hour days most of the year. And after working a full day, he walks in the door and never takes even a second for himself – he immediately has his arms outstretched for our son, and comes to kiss me before even putting his keys down.

He worked from home all summer and we were together all day, almost every day, and I never get tired of being with him. He is my very best friend and he is the best person I know.

My husband is the man he is because of another great man. My father-in-law raised three amazing children, my husband the oldest of them.

We had a rough holiday season last year – first my father-in-law was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer. Then only weeks later, we lost my mother-in-law.

It was a punch to the gut – twice. But we used the news of his cancer to live differently – we saw my father-in-law as much as possible. He lived with us on and off for months, so our son got to know him and see him often. Even though he was in his 80’s and couldn’t really play with the Bub, Papa was one of his very favorite people in the world. (There is something about Grandpas, isn’t there?)

We celebrated with one final Mexican Fiesta (he would cook for our friends once a year):

   

We took a ton of pictures, wrote down every recipe, and listened to his instructions (very carefully!) and stories for hours.

We lived. He LIVED for those nine months.

It is with a very heavy heart that I tell you my father-in-law passed away early yesterday morning. We were able to prepare, somewhat, but many of you know you can never prepare enough.

Oddly enough, it wasn’t the cancer that caused his death. He fought it like a tiger. A very stubborn, determined tiger. :)

But the cancer is what allowed us to spend as much time with him as we could over the past nine months. Isn’t that funny how the worst news you could get turns out to be a blessing in disguise?

Without the cancer diagnosis, we may not have seen him as much. We may have let a couple weeks go by without visiting. We may have let a week pass without talking to him. My son may not know to grab his drumstick (or any long item) and wobble around the house with a “cane” like Papa.

:)

My father-in-law was a GREAT man. He came to the USA as a teenager, became a United States citizen, and worked his tail off to make the American dream possible for his children. He and his wife raised three fantastic kids – two boys and a girl.

He made my husband sit at a piano from age five, because he saw his talent, even at that young age. My husband is an amazing music teacher and composer today because his father believed in him and pushed him to be all he could be.

He created a GREAT man when he raised my husband. My husband will create a GREAT man in our son with what he has learned from his father.

For that I will be eternally grateful to him. I admired and loved him so. I wish I could have thanked him a few hundred more times for what he has given to me.

For now, he is heaven, cooking up some fabulous Mexican for all of his loved ones. :)

We love you so very much Dad.