To all the Fort members who have lost or about to lose a parent, mom or dad, i want to impart some words of comfort and peace. Even some joy.
Oct 30, 1983, Donald Ford Lewis went to sleep in the Lord about 935am in Memorial hospital in St Joesph Michigan.
35 years ago yesterday my life changed. My dad suffered a heart attack on his bday Oct 27 in the evening. I had jump on some new aluminum siding i didn't see, and that caused my dad to become angry. It resulted in a heart attack, and i spent until i turned 30 that he died because of me. It was not. He would have had a heart attack no matter what that night.
In less than a year i became a jokster, mostly making fun of myself, because i felt so terrible.
Then i met her. My future wife who remembered to the day, one year later of my dad dying. She wrote me a note the teacher intercepted and ptepared to embarrass us by reading out loud. Once the teacher saw what was on the note the teacher gave it to me without reading. It simply said, i know what today is for you. If you need to talk, i am here.
That same girl has been by my side all through high school and now 21 years of marriage.
Life is beautiful, life is tough. Life is also full of the unexpected and it can feel great, while it also can make your world extremely dark.
Why do i share this?
That young girl might not have had any other way of connecting with me. What the world took from, my dad gave me her.
I follow my wife everywhere because she follows me everywhere. My mom and dad were like that, and her mom and dad were like that.
Please comfort yourself that you will go up like your patent in the best of ways. All the goodness they gave you. You will hone and give greater goodness.
This should lead to peace over sorrow. Peace because the world does not take all of your parent(s). You are made of the best of them. You share that with your family, neighbors, friends, co-workers and strangers.
And my hope is that i will always be as encouraging as my dad was, sharing what i have with those in need, and doing right, even if its not popular.
I hope you hope to share what is great about you and your inherited dna.
As with my dad, i believe i will see him again one day soon. Until then, i don't try to make him proud, i live and do what he taught me and so i know he would be proud.
Finally, everyone who is grieving still, don't think grieving is wrong. You will not get over their loss, you will just grow to appreciate them more over time. You will never forget, and soon you will have peace as you live on.
Good night Fort, i pray over you all and i admire you all. Be blessed and be a blessing.
Bob Lewis
Fayetteville, NC
Oct 30, 1983, Donald Ford Lewis went to sleep in the Lord about 935am in Memorial hospital in St Joesph Michigan.
35 years ago yesterday my life changed. My dad suffered a heart attack on his bday Oct 27 in the evening. I had jump on some new aluminum siding i didn't see, and that caused my dad to become angry. It resulted in a heart attack, and i spent until i turned 30 that he died because of me. It was not. He would have had a heart attack no matter what that night.
In less than a year i became a jokster, mostly making fun of myself, because i felt so terrible.
Then i met her. My future wife who remembered to the day, one year later of my dad dying. She wrote me a note the teacher intercepted and ptepared to embarrass us by reading out loud. Once the teacher saw what was on the note the teacher gave it to me without reading. It simply said, i know what today is for you. If you need to talk, i am here.
That same girl has been by my side all through high school and now 21 years of marriage.
Life is beautiful, life is tough. Life is also full of the unexpected and it can feel great, while it also can make your world extremely dark.
Why do i share this?
That young girl might not have had any other way of connecting with me. What the world took from, my dad gave me her.
I follow my wife everywhere because she follows me everywhere. My mom and dad were like that, and her mom and dad were like that.
Please comfort yourself that you will go up like your patent in the best of ways. All the goodness they gave you. You will hone and give greater goodness.
This should lead to peace over sorrow. Peace because the world does not take all of your parent(s). You are made of the best of them. You share that with your family, neighbors, friends, co-workers and strangers.
And my hope is that i will always be as encouraging as my dad was, sharing what i have with those in need, and doing right, even if its not popular.
I hope you hope to share what is great about you and your inherited dna.
As with my dad, i believe i will see him again one day soon. Until then, i don't try to make him proud, i live and do what he taught me and so i know he would be proud.
Finally, everyone who is grieving still, don't think grieving is wrong. You will not get over their loss, you will just grow to appreciate them more over time. You will never forget, and soon you will have peace as you live on.
Good night Fort, i pray over you all and i admire you all. Be blessed and be a blessing.
Bob Lewis
Fayetteville, NC
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