May 21st marked the one year anniversary of Clint's dad's passing. Clint's mom came to town, and we had a family memorial to honor Jerry. My parents joined us, and we all wrote notes to Jerry (known as Jay to the kids)... then we attached the notes to white balloons that we later released.
The kids wrote the sweetest things to their Jay. Graham dictated a few very thoughtful notes for me to write, but the one that really got me was when he said, "Jay, I wish you could come back." It was sad, but being the funny guy that he is, Graham also added a teasing note, saying, "Jay, you're an Aggie!" Jerry used to tease Graham to the point of tears by telling him that he was an Aggie... I guess Graham wanted to have the last word on that! Kennedy also wrote a letter to Jay letting him know how much we all miss him, and she read this before we let the ballons go. It was very sweet and very sad too.
It is so hard to believe that it has been a year since he left us. It really seems like yesterday. I was worried that the kids (especially Luke) would start to forget about their time with Jay, but they each still talk about him pretty much every day. They have wonderful and fun memories of him, and I think we all find comfort and happiness in that.
The above picture was taken right before we released the balloons at a park in Round Rock. Kennedy was still in her Betsy Ross costume because she had the Living History Museum that night.... and it was about 9:00 p.m. before we could finally start the memorial. Having kids in the mix definitely reminds us that life truly never stops, but at the same time, we will never be too busy to remember those we love.
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