Thank You Paw-Paw

Paw-Paw discovered America on Sept 8, 1941. That's an inside family joke, one of the many quirks of Paw-Paw.

The last two days have been the hardest of my life. I'm not a crier. I mostly retreat into myself. But now the tears are just there, ready and waiting.

Everyone called him Paw-Paw. Even though he was Dad, I called him Paw-Paw. He loved his family. He worked so hard for all of us. I see all the projects around here we did together.

He loved his church. A lot of people say this but he actually did. When I would go have lunch with him after church he always had two questions, "Did anyone sing a special today?" and "Did anyone go to the alter?". I would answer and he would say "I wish I could have been there".

So many memories about Paw-Paw but this one is about the church.

Paw-Paw loved singing. Loved it. We would have supper on Sunday night and he would announce "I'm headed to a singing at 'whatever' church was having one that night". He led our singing for so many years. Song titles and page numbers scribbled on a post it note.

He also rang the bell. 300 ties every Sunday morning to be exact. He wanted everyone to know "it's time for church to start". If he was ever gonna miss he asked me to ring the bell. He wouldn't tell me to ring it 300 times, he just "reminded" me how many times he rang it.

He also changed the church sign. Every week. Oh how he worried about that sign. The number of times he called me asking me how to spell a word. I'd spell it to him. Then he'd spell it back to me. Then again. And again. At least three times. I don't know that he ever read a single book in his life but how many people read his words!

Today I brought the letters from his house. We carefully picked out "THURMAN PARKER 1941-2025 I'M HOME." I wanted it on the sign before the funeral tomorrow. Amy didn't really want me to change it. She said one of the kids could. I needed to.

As I took the letters from the last sign he put up, I stared at the blank canvas. I started putting up the new message. T first, then H, then U. The wind was blowing. The bell started to ring. It gently rang until I had all the letters on. I smiled and I cried.

Thank you Paw-Paw.

Mark