Since Dad was really, truly gone, it was crunch time to get the memorial planned.
If Dad didn't want a funeral (which I'm sure he didn't) he made it super clear.
We ran into alllllllllllll the problems. With everything. Getting ahold of people to schedule the service, scanning in photos for a slideshow, getting a program made and every other detail you could think of. It was SUPER frustrating.
So we all took Roxy to Dad's house so she could play with her cousins (Everett and Breckie were at school) and so we could start to go through Dad's things (since this would be one of the only times we could) because Montana and Wes lived so far away.
We picked out some things that we'd really like to have. It was a little strange. But knowing it had to be done, it was easier to do it sooner than later.
The hospital let us know that they were matching up his organs with people in need of transplants and that the transplants would be completed in the next few days. There was no need to go back to the hospital. There was nothing else to be done.
Back at he house it was nice to find some of the pictures he kept. Like the senior picture of our childhood babysitter. We had a lot of good times with Sandra while Dad was at work.
And pictures of our cousins on my Mom's side. Looking through pictures it was really nice to see that our family spend time with my uncle's family before the divorces.
I even found an old Yatzee score card with everyones names on it in the Yatzee box. Proof that at one point, we were a 'normal' family. There were lots of pictures of us as babies and at picnics together. I wish I could have been old enough to remember. But most of the time I think it's better that I was too young to have ever had a memory of my parents together.
But I will forever be thankful that my dad took pictures.
We all smiled when we opened his sock drawers. He was so organized!
I was getting a little overwhelmed with sadness and found myself in his closet. Seeing his shoes and knowing that he'd never put his feet in them again was crushing me. I could smell him in his closet, see him in his hiking shoes, I saw his belt that he wore for SO many years. The leather belt with the belt buckle with a buck on it.
I was truly overwhelmed with sadness.
I went into the garage, got on one of his bikes and went for a long ride. Just like we always did as kids. It seemed like every night in the summer we'd go for a bike ride. I cried my eyes out as I rode all around his part of town. My dad was an exceptional dad. He really excelled as a father and created many opportunities for happy childhood memories.
I brought home some of my treasures that night. One thing my cousin (Raven) suggested was that we don't get in a hurry to get rid of things. That it's okay to hang on to more things than you planned. She wishes she would have kept more things of her moms.