My Daddy! My Hero!

I absolutely adored my father! He had a heart of gold and would do or give you anything that he had, although that wasn't much. He was 12 or 13 when he was diagnosed with juvenile diabetes. What did that mean to me growing up? Well, playing nurse and fighting over who got to "shoot" daddy, today! I thought everybody got to give their dad a shot everyday. It was the "norm". I remember, in the early years, he worked at David Washington now known as Wild Wings in Gainesville! It was a lumber supply company. He later worked for Peachtree Doors in Gainesville. My "smell" memories, sawdust and Brut. He was a simple man, never used shampoo, only bar soap. Hated all condiments, except salt and pepper. No ketchup, mustard, A-1, Heinz 57, butter, marinara sauce, Alfredo sauce, plain only! He never ate Karaoke! Funny story... Took him to NY with me in High school and the dinner theater marquee stated that Wednesday's were Karaoke night and my father's comment was, "You know I don't eat that stuff!" Ha! What's the saying? "You can take the boy out of the country but you can't take the country out of the boy!" Simple Man! When I was about 12, he lost 1 leg to the disease. That's when diabetes became real to me. Oh, we had real fun times before that like dodging the glass of coke Kristy and I tried to feed him to bring his sugar levels back up before he bottomed out and ended up in a coma... That's the day we learned you put it in a plastic cup and not glass! Or the time we went camping, his sugar bottomed out in the middle of the night at a camp ground., in a tent. We woke to dad doing the "bicycle" in the air and eventually tearing down the tent on top of us. Mom, Kristy and I wrestled him into the car and off to the nearest hospital. On the way he kicked us, pulled our hair like he was a 2 year old and we just took his toy. At one point my face was plastered against the dashboard, Kristy's against the back window and mom's hair being pulled while trying to drive. I type this with a smile because as crazy as it was, we were together and we remember camping with a maniac, I mean father and I wonder just what the neighboring tents thought was going on next door! Sorry, but I just have to giggle! Funnier story, when we get to the hospital, they preform x-rays on him! When I was 17, he came down with pneumonia and ended up in the ER where he was to receive routine fluids and go home with the the usual prescriptions only, the fluids built up around his heart and he had congestive heart failure and then a heart attack. I'll never forget the nurse bring my mother his wedding band in the waiting room and then death became real to me. He didn't die then, but he spent pretty much all summer in the hospital recovering. He left the hospital with his second leg amputated, and complete kidney failure. He started out with dialysis 2 times a week a couple hours a day and progressed to 3 times a week almost all day. He didn't give up though! No sir! He learned to walk with 2 prosthetic legs and continue to live life serving others. He was known in our youth group at church for taking a leg off and placing behind the tire of the church van as a practical joke. He served as an usher on Sundays and did it all with a smile on his face. I was proud of my daddy, my hero! I was proud he was mine! Not ashamed that my dad didn't have legs, proud that he didn't let that slow him down! When I was 19, the wedding plans were well on way for May 6, 2000. I was marring my best friend and my daddy's second side kick, for I was the 1st. They were 2 peas in a pod sitting on the end of the bed watching sports together! Oh, yeah, and occasionally, That 70's show! Don't ask! On April 18, 2000, 18 days before mine and Matt's wedding, my daddy died of massive heart attack. I was sad. No butterfly kisses song, No pre-wedding talk of encouragement just before walking me down the aisle. Just, not how I imagined it and not enough time to imagine a new way. Pure shock! But God, knew exactly what He was doing with the timing. We burried him on Good Friday that year, We had a wedding shower on Saturday, 2 weeks to finalize wedding plans and change a few, before we knew it, the wedding came and we cried at the rehersal and I laughed with my husband through the wedding! What's the saying? "The more you laugh at the rehersal, the more you cry at the Wedding!" Well, we did it opposite! But imagine with me if you will, in the midst of death and sorrow, a wedding! Laughter and joy of a new begining! Isn't that just like God! "And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose" Romans 8:28