My little break from orders has been very productive.. I've had so much fun working non stop on new doll's and was looking forward to spending this week on Sweet Pea Doll's and their clothing.
Unfortunately, all that fun came to a very sad halt last weekend when I received word that my brother in law from Oklahoma had passed away.
My brother in laws name was Larry Bottoms.. He was a kind, gentle teddy bear of a man and we all respected and loved him very much. He and my sister had met 17 years ago, married and blended their family's together.. My sister has 4 kids, he had 2... He was a great step dad, a loving husband and a friend to all.
Larry has had some really hard things to get past in the last couple of years, the biggest being the loss of his 17 year old daughter Rachel...
About 14 years ago, after Rachel's death, Larry started having problems with his legs.. He went from having to use a cane to using a walker and finally, a scooter..
He was a city manager for the city of Tulsa, and despite having difficulty just walking, he continued to work up until last year.. He went through a very serious health crises last fall, he wasn't expected to live, but he did! He pulled through and worked at trying to get better..He was bed ridden for months but eventually was able to get himself up and onto a scooter, so he was making headway. Unfortunately, his heart could just not take the strain any more and last weekend, his journey came to an end.
I have gotten really interested in the belief that we can heal ourselves and in the way that most cultures, other than ours here in the United States, look to the emotional upheavals in one's life to figure out the best source of healing for patients.. I'm no expert on this in the least and would never claim to be.. I've just started getting very interested in this and find it fascinating.. I've always had this feeling that our body's have the ability to heal themselves, but it hasn't been a very popular belief in this country until recently, so I haven't really known where to go to figure this all out.. It seems that this theory is now becoming much more popular in our country and more and more people are talking about it on Tv as well as making cd's, dvd's and writing books about it... Not to get too involved in what I've learned so far, I'd just like to mention one thing I did hear that really struck a cord with me..
I've been listening to Louis Hay's book on Cd "You Can Heal Your Life". In one section she talks about what pain in different parts of our body's signify.. She has found, through her patients, that pain and problems in our legs mean we're having a hard time moving forward in our lives...
Thinking back on Larry's condition and how all this started after the death of his daughter, I have to wonder, is this what happened? Was it virtually impossible for Larry to subconsciously imagine moving forward in life without Rachel being a part of it?
On top of loosing his daughter, he lost his mother a few years ago and then one of his two brothers about a year ago..His father had died when he was much younger. Larry was only in his 50's, but he seemed to have a life time of heartache wrapped up in a 15 year period.
I know without a doubt that Larry is now in a better place with all the people he had lost during his too short lifetime.. His legs are healthy, he's able to dance and walk freely and he's finally at peace...
Larry, you were one of the nicest men I've ever had the pleasure of knowing! Here's to you.. May you dance, without pain, through eternity with peace and happiness in your soul... Until we meet again my friend, much love.
My sister, Lori Bottoms, will be fine.. She's been preparing for this for years.. She told me she misses the man, but not the illness.. It's been hard for her watching Larry deteriorate for years, knowing there was nothing she could do to help him.
She knows he's in a much better place now, and though she'll miss him, she's happy his suffering has come to an end.
Our parents drove out to Oklahoma first to stay with Lori... Very early Monday morning I drove to Indiana to pick up my youngest sister and we drove straight through to Oklahoma.. We arrived at 2:30 am our time.. loooooonngggg drive! I was so glad my sister had gone with me because it sure made that trip much more enjoyable! Our husbands had never had the pleasure of meeting Larry and because we both have many pets to be taken care of, our husbands said go, we'll take care of everything at home.. That really made it so much easier for us both to be able to just pick up and go.. Thank you John and Frank :o)
Sara and I both got about 4 hours of sleep that night.. I had gotten about 3 hours of sleep the night before... We are getting too old for this. haha.
Our oldest sister's husband did know Larry really well and wanted to be at the service, so the two of them left, along with one of her son's and his wife, and also drove straight through.. We were a tired bunch of people, but I have to say, we sure are a strong bunch of people!
After the service and meal, my sisters and I all headed back.. Our parents stayed for another day and all of Lori's four grown kids, their spouses and her grandchildren stayed to keep her company.. She had a houseful!
We all drove straight through the night....I tried to sleep while Sara drove, but I just can't sleep in a car for some reason... By time we pulled into Sara's driveway, it was 6am in the morning.. I still had 6 hours to drive so I decided to get back on the road.. I was afraid if I laid down at Sara's to take a nap, it'd be afternoon before I woke up and late when I finally got home.. I stopped at a rest area on the way home, slept for 45 minutes, then back on the road.. What a relief to pull into my own driveway and being met by my sweetie John, Bear, Tomi and Rascal (our newest kitten)..
I haven't quite caught up on sleep yet, but I'm feeling pretty rested this morning. So back to work for me! I'm now a bit behind schedule and apologize to my customers because I'll probably be taking a few extra days off on my little break so I can get everything done I was planning on doing...
Just one more little thought here before I sign off... The cost of living has gotten so out of control and this experience is just one small example of that! The cheapest airline tickets we could have gotten were $1200 each.. That's a lot of money for the average American to have to spend on travel, especially for emergency travel.. That's why we all decided to drive (which wasn't cheap with the price of gas either)... This country is making things so hard for the average Joe! Why isn't there something set up for emergency's like this that would allow people to travel last minute at an affordable rate instead of having to pay ridiculous prices because there isn't a weekend involved!!! Not nice airline company's!!
I wish someone was really paying attention!!!!
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