Good-bye for now Papa

Today, by far, was the worst day of my life. We said goodbye to my Papa around 11:30 this morning. He has been in the hospital since May 18th and just wasn't getting any better. He fought a hard fight the last 14 months. Lung cancer ended up taking him from us but he sure tried and we are thankful for that. He was transferred from United Regional on Wednesday afternoon to Hospice. And he passed away peacefully with all of us there which is what he wanted. We were so very blessed to have this time with him the past few weeks. Last Tuesday on the 4th, every single one of us got one on one time with him to tell him how much he meant to us and oh how much we loved him. I know many families do not get to do that opportunity and we feel so very lucky. He was so sad that he hadn't been able to see his dog and so the hospital made a special request to let Lady come and visit him last week. But the great thing about Hospice is that she got to visit him every day those last few days of his life. Nana and Papa just celebrated their 59th wedding anniversary and they had an amazing life together. I honestly don't know what we are all going to do without him. We've eaten dinner with Nana and Papa every Saturday my entire life and it's never going to be the same without him being there.

 Here is Lady visiting him at the hospital last week.

 Last Monday the 3rd he was in and out of it but my mom and I sat and held his hand from 8 am that morning till about 8 pm that night. I took this picture and I treasure it.

 These pictures were from last April 2012 and I wanted to post a few again....Some of my all time favorite pictures of him. I'm so glad we took them. And I'm so thankful my children were able to know him.

After he passed away today, we all went to my mom's to start going through photo albums to pull pictures for his funeral. Poor Lady doesn't really know what is going on but I thought this was precious. Kerry and Lady decided they needed a snuggle buddy for a nap. I know my Papa would smile at this:)

This week is going to be miserably hard. We have the funeral to plan tomorrow and the visitation/funeral to get through. Many prayers are needed for our family as we try to get through this.