Five things on April 5th – the Fifth month without Jim

Jim went to heaven 5 months ago.  Today would have been his dad’s 86th birthday.  I think because I anticipated this day with such caution, it was not as hard of a day as I thought it would be.  (It was sort of like seeing an accident about to happen so you get ready for it and then the impact isn’t so severe!) As well, Linda came by, after going to the cemetery to visit Lionel’s grave, and we had a nice visit.

Part of the anticipating came the night before when we went out to dinner as a family.  We used the opportunity to each share 5 memories of Jim. The only guideline was there could be no duplicate answers.  Once we got started we thought of more but too many all at once overwhelm us with sadness.  I will tell you what we shared and would love to hear some of your memories too.

Miriam:

1. I loved his puny humor and his silly impersonations.
2. He could balance his trombone on his head and play a song.
3. He cheated at Monopoly… (regularly)
4. He lost his first Tilley hat when it blew off the top of St Paul’s cathedral in London.
5. He made me tea the “British way” every morning.

Emily

1. Jim would perform magic tricks as a means of getting on rides through the fast pass line at Disneyland
2. Jim led the Jr high worship team on Sundays in IL
3. He took Emily to the zoo every Monday in AZ, and out to breakfast every Thursday in IL
4. We took lots of vacations and fun trips together
5. He liked to color the breakfast food, especially waffles and pancakes

Clayton

1. Jim and Clayton were soccer referees together
2. Together they were on a quest to visit all 30 MLB stadiums for a home game.  They were 2/3rds done.
3. Jim was Clayton’s cub scout leader
4. He took Clayton and his best friend Sherrod on hikes in Lyons woods
5. They liked to play “daddy trap”and “knock over”

We continue to grieve and move through life one day at a time.  We learned to do that when Jim first got sick.  Today is all anyone has.  Yet we live with hope for tomorrow.