Celebration of a Life (formerly "The Funeral")

These guys were the little bright spots of the week spent preparing for my Dad's funeral. Mom said when Ava came into the hospital in her cute little hat all bundled up at 2 in the morning she couldn't help but smile. Ava and Bo got to spend a good amount of time together. Here's Ava entranced by Bo...
followed by a "kiss". Bo's kisses consist of placing his forehead on yours.

I wish I could have gotten video of the hundreds of sandhill cranes I saw flying south one morning. Absolutely amazing and truly lifted my heart. I'd only seen and heard a small flock once before in my life. Such a sight to behold and hear! Truly, Daddy was there.
And here's our little salamander friend. (Mom has a closer pic of his smile) He was right under the lip of the hypertufa pot that you see in the background staying warm I suppose. I went to touch it because I thought it was dead (it was like 40 degrees out!) and he moved! My Dad made that pot as a gift for our friends Kathy and Craig Adams. It was the neatest hobby he had taken up in the last year of his life. He made nearly two dozen and they take a while to make. I loved watching him get creative with them. He made them to accommodate his expanding collection of succulents. We intend to posthumously submit two of his pots in the Southeastern Flower Show next month. Last year he placed second, and as he and I studied the first place winner's display, all we could figure was that their pot was better. Thus, the hypertufa hobby commenced.

Modified: You know, "The Funeral" was just so bleak. My best friend and I have always believed, that when we die we'd really like our lives to be celebrated rather than mourned. And that was the attitude I tried to remember when confronting Daddy's death and the funeral. There will always be so many things to celebrate about his life. In addition, I tried to convey that in his obituary, and surprisingly the Atlanta Journal Constitution contacted us the day it ran to do a follow up bio piece in the Saturday paper. The link follows, but I'd like to preface your reading with a note: My father carefully got back into running. It was not a careless, heedless endeavor. He actually started biking first and he amazed the doctors so much that they cautiously agreed to his running again. I think running kept him alive really. It was one of his most favorite things in the world to do. (also, he only got to plant orchids in the Caymens, not trees, but you know, my experience with the papers is that they almost always get one or two things incorrect)

AJC: Don Tomczak, loved running and the outdoors