Ugly Cry 2012

We celebrated my PaPa's life on Saturday in a beautiful and moving memorial service.  The lovely funeral home was packed with family and friends, customers and gardeners.  We had a few hours to visit (pre-party) before the service and an hour after (post-party) to say good-bye to the people who had traveled to pay their respects to PaPa.  My aunts had approached me prior to the celebration and asked me to read my previous blog post at the funeral.  I reluctantly said yes, knowing that I'm not good under emotional pressure.  Good under pressure, yes.  Emotional pressure, no. 

Weeeeelllll....

I brought my iPad and planned to read the post from it sometime during the service.  Uncle Mike went first.  He did a marvelous job talking about the skills PaPa had besides gardening, such as building every square inch of his house from the ground up to taking apart engines and putting them back together.  Aunt Kathy was next.  She talked about how PaPa was probably up in heaven giving God design tips on the human body, being that his earthly body contained many artificial parts.  Next up was cousin Sean.  Picture in your head a fair skinned, red headed gentle giant that speaks with gusto and boom.  He began to talk about how his father (PaPa's brother) cherished PaPa and always looked up to him.  Sean himself saw PaPa as a hero, an idol.  Tears started flowing.  He continued to talk about how all of PaPa's siblings worshipped and adored him and how much he would be missed.  Tears, again.  He went on to list so many wonderful things about PaPa and how his life touched so many...and the tears kept coming.  He did a beautiful job.  A touching job.  And I though to myself "there's no way I can follow that."

WRONG.

My brother nudged me up to the podium and again, I reluctantly said yes.

I opened the iPad, pulled up the post, took one look at the picture of PaPa and Caroline and did this:

Yep, the Ugly Cry.  It me about a minute to get it together, I talked for a minute about my Granny, then I lost it again.  And again.  And again.  I'm not really sure what I said by the time I finally sat down.  I tried to talk about his legacy and how great his children are.  I tried talking about the party that's happening up in Heaven.  I tried to hold it together, but I mainly just cried.  And cried.  Not the cute, pretty, dab the tears with a tissue...the ugly, sobbing, give me the whole dang box of tissue kind of crying.  My dad came up to support me at one point, although I felt the support of my entire family during the whole Ugly Cry 2012 experience.  :)

The service ended soon after and I was able to enjoy a cold beer at the post party.  I was also about to share more great stories with family members and bond with others I hadn't seen in a while.  All in all, we had such a great time celebrating the life of a great man. 

Rest in peace, PaPa.  You are missed.

Goodbye to a Legend

Caroline lost her great-grandfather today.  I lost my grandfather.  My dad lost is father.  More than that, the world lost a great man who was loved by many.

Dr. Thomas Maher, or PaPa to a select 15, passed away today surrounded by his family that loved him, in the home that he built almost 60 years ago.  He almost left us about 6 weeks ago, but he was determined not to leave this world from a hospital bed.  He decided, instead, to leave us from the bed he built so many years ago.  Papa was a remarkably healthy man, eating mainly things that he grew in his garden, but a heart issue took his life in the end.  We are all thankful he didn't suffer for very long and that he was in good spirits until the end.  He was eating apple fritters and reading the comics in the days before his passing.  What a way to go!

Here's the obituary from the Lafayette paper:

Dr. T. F. “Tom” Maher, 86, Lafayette’s leading gardener for more than 50 years, died Wednesday, July 18, 2012 at his home.

Maher was a retired UL Lafayette professor of agricultural engineering, but he was better known in the community for his huge garden and greenhouse. He sold both plants and vegetables from his Mimosa Place home, and from the Acadiana Farmers’ Market at the corner of Foreman and Dulles streets. Hundreds of area gardeners got their plants from Maher’s greenhouse. He introduced to the Lafayette market many new varieties of plants, from improved blackberries to heat-resistant tomatoes to a wide range of pepper plants, melons and eggplant.

Maher grew up on a farm in Ardmore, Oklahoma and served in the United States Navy during World War II. His bachelor’s and doctoral degrees are from Oklahoma State University; his master’s degree was from Texas A & M. He taught agriculture at UL Lafayette from 1953 until 1980. He was one of the first three Distinguished Professors honored by the UL Foundation.

He was preceded in death by his first wife, Eileen McGraw Maher, and by his third son, Dan Maher.

He is survived by his second wife, Ruth Ganucheau Maher, by two sons, Michael Maher of Sunset, La., and Patrick Maher of Houston, Texas; by four daughters: Kellie Brame of Hammond, La, Kathy Feldmaier of Austin, Texas; Shannon Maher of Atlanta, Ga., and Shawn Williams of Lake Arthur, La. All of his seven children are graduates of the University of Louisiana at Lafayette. He will also be missed by fifteen grandchildren and three great-great grandchildren.


What the summary of PaPa doesn't include is that he had a wonderful sense of humor and a calming disposition.  He was a lovely man who loved his garden and bouncing a baby on his knee.  He was smart as a whip and had the clearest blue eyes.  His legacy will be his garden, from which many new varieties of plants were created.  He loved sharing that gift with the local garden enthusiasts. His greatest legacy will be his children - all of them successful and wonderful in their own way because he and Granny raised them that way.  The right way, in a home full of love and humor.

Rest in peace, Papa.  Give Granny a big hug for me and tell her all about her great-grand daugther, Caroline.  Watch over us and help me raise my children to be as great as the ones you raised! 

Don't Blink

There's something to be said about small towns whose descriptions include "Don't blink.  You'll miss it." They usually have one stop light and one store and about 100 residents, most of which have been there since they were born.  Don't blink while you're driving through it, otherwise, you'll miss it.

The same can be said about a growing baby.  Don't blink, or you'll miss them growing from babies to little girls.  I knew my itty bitty baby was growing, but it didn't hit me until recently that she's grown into a little girl.  She's full of giggles and mischief, pigtails and scraped knees.  It seems like just yesterday she was my cling-on!  I don't know where the time went, but that cling-on is a full-on little girl.

Here are some pictures from our trip to the park today.  No more little baby.  Welcome to the world, little girl!

(I must apologize for her outfit.  It was her 3rd shirt of the day and 2nd pair of shorts.  I was beyond making sure it matched by that point in the day.)

Climbing onto the equipment by herself.  When did she learn to do that?!

Ugh! Doesn't she look like a little girl in this picture?  Tennis shoes and all!

Made it to the top! 

She knew exactly what to do when she got to the top of the slide.  I kept picturing her going down head first, but she saved that for later.

Same smile.  So happy!

She also climbed all the way to the top.  She's that kid that goes up the slide and down the stairs!  I've got to train her before she goes to school.

Walking around, like she's been doing it her whole life.

 

Daddy's twin.

 

She loved the wood chips.  She brought some home in her shoes and in her diaper.

"What's this, Mom?"

Sweet girl got to the first step and was stuck.  She didn't know what to do after that.

If there's water, she will find it.

Soaking wet baby.  Time to go home!

Walkin' Shoes

It's a good thing I bought her so many pairs of cute shoes.  She's walking!  Caroline is finally walking on her own!  Yahoo!  She took her first "steps" on the same night that Lucas and I went out to celebrate our anniversary.  We dropped her off at Mom's house and 15 minutes later we got a video text with a short clip of Caroline walking to her MayMay (my sister, Meghan).  It only took her 14 months to get there, but she's finally walking. 

Here's a little video of Caroline walking down the street with Luc:

Isn't she the cutest?!?  In addition to all of the great things that come with her new method of mobility, the greatest is that she gets to move up in the child center at the gym!!!  This is great news for me because it means I don't have to make an appointment to bring her up there.  It's great for Caroline because she has access to more toys and her good friend, Taylor, is in there.  It's a win-win for everyone!  My most favorite thing about her walking is when she comes up and hugs my legs.  It's so sweet.

As mentioned earlier, Luc and I just celebrated 4 years of wedded bliss!  We went to a nice steakhouse to celebrate and even slept in the next day, thanks to Mom and Dad.  It was a great gift!  We also got a great Edible Arrangement from Ms. Diane and Luc's brothers.  It was the perfect gift because the 4th anniversary gift theme is "flowers and fruit"...good match!

I'll celebrate my 32nd birthday next week.  Thirty two doesn't seem very glamorous or big, so I don't think we're going to do anything too big.  Maybe I'll get to sleep in again...we'll see!

Here are some pictures of the latest shenanigans around the Smith House:

Trying on Daddy's boots.  This didn't go as planned.  It was much cuter in my mind.

She loved Jacob's goggles.  She knew exactly what to do with them.  Swimming is in her blood!  She loves jumping off the side into the pool.

Playing in the backyard.  Naked.  Silly baby!

Rough day of playing = great nap!  Snuggled up with her GiGi.

Helping mommy water the concrete.  So sweet!  By the way, those leggings protect her knees and feet when she crawls around on the concrete.

Sweet anniversary gift from Ms Diane and the boys!

The tantrums have started.  So have Time Outs!

Funny story about these shorts.  She saw them in Target and grabbed them from the rack.  She WOULD NOT let them go, not even for the lady to scan them at checkout.  She was tugging her shorts of as I unloaded the bags from the car! 

I put them on her when I finished putting the Target goodies away.  She loves them.  I think she loves the bow!  She also loved this sweet card from Grandma Jane and Grandpa Norm!

Speaking of love...this little honey loves ice cream!

My sister's house has trees!  Won't be long now until we're neighbors.

Always has on "purses".

Taking a break from walking.

Blowing kisses to the firefighters at the July 4th parade.

Parade time with Alyssa and Tyler!

Playing on a hot day.  That was my dress when I was her age.

Relaxing with her new purse, which came with that pink bracelet.

I made those bow holders!  I might need another one...she has so many bows!

Someone fell asleep eating...