It was a dark and stormy night...

It was a dark and stormy night and three bandits sat by the camp fire, one bandit says to the next, "hey Pedro, tell us a story" so Pedro began. It was a dark and stormy night and three bandits sat by the camp fire, one bandit says to the next, "hey Pedro, tell us a story" so Pedro began. It was a dark and stormy night... Papa always had a story or a joke. That was one of the things that many people loved about him. He had an incredible ability to put a smile on your face even through our darkest of times. Maybe that comes from the time he spent growing up during the great depression. I can recall the numerous stories of how he could go to see a movie for less than 10 cents. Now you can’t go see a movie with out refinancing your house. His experiences have helped to guide all of us in our own journeys in life.

Papa was also an artist. The things he could whittle with wood were amazing. Many of us are lucky to have his pens, purse holders, welsh love spoons, or any other item he created. An unknown individual once said, “Each day is a new canvas to paint upon. Make sure your picture is full of life and happiness, and at the end of the day you don’t look at it and wish you had painted something different.” I think we can all agree that Papa wouldn’t change anything about the way he lived his life. As an artist myself, I look at his life and see a masterpiece. He perfectly weaved compassion with family, love with anger, and humor with life. He was the paint of God’s palette and together they created a beautiful painting.

Lenardo DaVinci once said, "As a well spent day brings happy sleep, so life well used brings happy death." Papa lived, and I mean truly lived. He spent time in the military, went to college, was an eagle scout, a mason, a shriner, a clown, a son, husband, father, grand father, great grandfather, and a friend. Truthfully he was master of all disguises, because he was everything to everyone. He especially meant the world to my Nana, Jean Brimmer. They taught me so much as a loving couple and as parents how to live my life with compassion, truth, humor, and great food. They were to me a perfect example for the foundation of marriage. Maybe through harder times as children they learned the value of what one has and how it can all be quickly taken away.

All of us learned that almost 10 years ago when Nana was quickly taken from us. Papa though heart broken at losing his soul mate persevered and I, like many of us, feel lucky to still have had him for these last several years. He was able to see grandchildren graduate high school, get married, and even saw his great grand children be born into this world. John Chapter 14: verse 27 states, “I am leaving you with a gift—peace of mind and heart. And the peace I give is a gift the world cannot give. So don’t be troubled or afraid."

Papa gave all of us the greatest gift of all, time. Time to learn from a man who has experienced many things, whose wisdom goes well beyond the boundaries of life, and who we could share in positives and negatives in our life. He would pick us up when we fell, lend a hand to hold us up when the world was bringing us down, and would lend a shoulder when you needed someone to talk to. Papa is leaving us with the gift of himself, because in reality he never left. He is within each of us as we carry the memories with him, as we carry the wisdom he imparted on to all of us, and as we teach our children the things he taught us. Every time it’s a dark and stormy night I will always think of Pedro sitting around a campfire telling his story and see Papa’s face dimly lit by the creakingly of the lighting as we brace for the storm. Knowing that through any weather I will always be safe because he is there protecting me.