It’s been a tough week. Watching someone you love pass away is NOT for the faint at heart. My mom remembered something my great aunt said a million years ago … “Dying can take a long time” … and yes, yes it can. Our bodies were made to LIVE, not die. And yet…that moment will come for each and every one of us. I watched it come for my father early yesterday morning. He was a fighter all the way up to the end. He’d already been handed several blows…throat cancer that stole his voice and then dementia that stole his mind…and yet, I NEVER heard my father complain. He got back up every time he got knocked down and carried on with everything in him.
My father was ONE OF ONE. I heard that term when Dolly passed last week, and it’s as applicable to Gordon Ragsdale as it was her. He walked to the beat of his own drum. He was a character. Drove us all crazy sometimes….but our lives would have been boring without him:). He was the life of the party, the last to leave, the one who wanted to go to every event and the one who showed up at every funeral. He was a good, good friend to so many of the men in his town…young and old. He was a dreamer, an entrepreneur, a business owner, a “ford man”… he loved anything to do with boats and water…deep sea fishing with his friends was his fave.
I have so many thoughts from the past week on death and dying and life and living. In the midst of the hard, my mom and sister and I had a beautiful week of being together…just the original four, all tucked under one roof. Staying up all night, laughing, crying, sharing stories, going through pictures, impersonating my daddy, visiting with dear friends who would stop by. God has a way to always bring the beautiful out of the very, very painful.
Thank you all so much for your thoughts and prayers and kind messages and comments already. My family felt them and my daddy would have been touched by them.
Well..DG RAGSDALE…go fish with Jesus, I’ve heard he’s good at that. Go hang out late night with all your friends that have gone before you. Go spend time with Grandmother and Papa … I know seeing them right away made up for all you’ve been through. Go talk as much as you want and use that brilliant mind once again. Go rest. You deserve it.
xox.eb
Thanks for sharing Elizabeth! Will be lifting up prayers for you and your family. I bet your dad is fishing with Jesus - whole once again mind and body. Love you!!😘
I’m so sorry Elizabeth. Death touches areas that words simply cannot describe. I rejoice for him that he is free in the presence of the Lord. I mourn with you as you and your family navigate life without him. What a hope we have in Jesus that allows both joy and grief to coexist in the same space. Sending hugs to you!