What a busy week! Ryan if off in Indianapolis, IN at the annual FFA National Convention, Jenn is taking drivers education on top of classes at school and color guard practice for this weekend competition, and I am have worked for the last ten days. Sound busy enough for you? I'm finding that I have little time to relax between the two jobs. It seems I've been picking up other people's chores. Guess we'll have to have a talk when everyone is home this weekend.
Until then, tonight I get a break. Thanks goodness! Thursdays are our date night for watching "Survivor" and I am really looking forward to a relaxing evening with my boyfriend. Even though we are in a long distance relationship we make it a point to spend time each week enjoying something fun together. I really miss watching "LOST" but it's not back on television yet. Anyway, it's nearly time, so I'd better get ready for some "R" time!
;)
Showing posts with label life. Show all posts
Showing posts with label life. Show all posts
Thursday, October 23, 2008
Monday, October 29, 2007
An Estranged Parent's Journey in Life & Death: Part I - Notification
We try our best to prepare ourselves for times like this, and yet when it happens we are often confused by its impact. On October 28th at approximately 10:30 p.m. Arthur Watkins was pronounced DOA after being transported to a local hospital in Alabama where he resided for several years. He had suffered a heart attack while driving home from Biloxi MS. Who was he? My estranged natural father.
He was born August 26, 1932 to Stanley & Mary Watkins and he had two siblings, Gene (his older brother) and Bobbie (his younger sister) all of which preceded him in death. He was a handsome man, 6'2" tall, thin build, with brown hair and blue eyes. He grew up in Roanoke Rapids, NC and would join the Marine Corps after his graduation from high school.
I am told, he had been married to a woman that did so with intentions to collect his combat pay should he not survive the war. Unfortunate for her, the military changed his orders and he never went on this tour of duty. Within two months the marriage was annulled. It wasn't long after that when he met my mother and they were married in August of 1953. They would have five children together, and after the divorce in 1975 their extended family would increase with the birth of eight grandchildren and two great-grandchildren. What a wonderfully large family.
The sad part is that Arthur Watkins would leave the area within 5 years of the divorce and remove himself for the most part from the lives of his five children and never enjoy his extended family. Though it seemed a blessing at times, there were moments for some of us when we wished he were the man we needed him to be, but he was who he was like it or not. So, how do you deal with the death of an immediate family member when they are estranged for more than 30 years of your life?
Related Posts: Part I - Notification, Part II - Reactions, Part III - Discovery, Part IV - A Full Military Honors Ceremony,
Part V - The Ceremony & Update from Biloxi, Part VI - Lessons Learned
He was born August 26, 1932 to Stanley & Mary Watkins and he had two siblings, Gene (his older brother) and Bobbie (his younger sister) all of which preceded him in death. He was a handsome man, 6'2" tall, thin build, with brown hair and blue eyes. He grew up in Roanoke Rapids, NC and would join the Marine Corps after his graduation from high school.
I am told, he had been married to a woman that did so with intentions to collect his combat pay should he not survive the war. Unfortunate for her, the military changed his orders and he never went on this tour of duty. Within two months the marriage was annulled. It wasn't long after that when he met my mother and they were married in August of 1953. They would have five children together, and after the divorce in 1975 their extended family would increase with the birth of eight grandchildren and two great-grandchildren. What a wonderfully large family.
The sad part is that Arthur Watkins would leave the area within 5 years of the divorce and remove himself for the most part from the lives of his five children and never enjoy his extended family. Though it seemed a blessing at times, there were moments for some of us when we wished he were the man we needed him to be, but he was who he was like it or not. So, how do you deal with the death of an immediate family member when they are estranged for more than 30 years of your life?
Related Posts: Part I - Notification, Part II - Reactions, Part III - Discovery, Part IV - A Full Military Honors Ceremony,
Part V - The Ceremony & Update from Biloxi, Part VI - Lessons Learned
Thursday, May 17, 2007
You know you're bad when ...
life seems to go to quickly and you can't catch up with it! LOL! It's been two months since I have posted here but as life would have it, I've been busy. I'll try and bring things up to speed here soon now that I have finished my second in a series of colleges classes towards my degree. Hopefully, in the near future ... like before 10 years from now, I will have that degree and a great new income to go with it! More later ... for now, be safe and enjoy this thing we call life! :)
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