5 YEARS - JANUARY 27, 2016

It's hard to believe it has been five years since my world as I knew it came crashing down and changed forever. On one hand the ache and emptiness in our hearts seems like it has been going on for such a long time, and on the other hand the memories are still so vivid and real that it seems like it was just yesterday. Today I have spent most of the day engrossed in memories of him and the life we spent together. Such wonderful memories. I remember the first time he came to my parent's house to see me. We had met at a party a few months earlier, which I talked about in a previous blog. We had spent a lot of time talking on the phone and writing letters, and knew we really liked each other. When he came back to town, after getting settled where he was staying, he headed to my parent's house, where I had come from where I was living, so I could see him. When he knocked on the door, I answered it, and there he was! I still remember what he was wearing. He had on a short-sleeved yellow dress shirt, blue brushed-corduroy, bell-bottom pants with his guitar case in his hand. I thought he was the most good-looking young man I had ever seen. My heart seemed to skip a beat, and I believe I knew at that moment that I was in love. It was a love that grew and blossomed. It was a love that I have to this day! Rebekah and her kids joined me at the cemetery this evening, and we were sharing memories about their PaPa. The twins never got to meet him, but have heard stories about him. They told how he always had a toothpick in his mouth. When asked a question he would kind of chew on it a little while thinking what to say and then remove it when he was talking. Rebekah remembered the last time she talked to him on the phone, she was telling him she was expecting not just one baby, but two - twins! He was thrilled. Riah remembered him helping with his train. His PaPa loved trains and loved running our train for them every Christmas. Genzi remembered him taking them fishing when we visited them at Mooseheart in Illinois. He helped Riah catch his very first fish when he was only two years old. I am so glad he had that experience with his first grandson! So special! We talked about how we missed the way he could always calm us down when we were upset about something. He had a gift from God in the way he could stay calm and bring a peace and calm to others in crisis or pain. He was our rock, and it was also one of the things that made him so good in ministry. We also miss his Godly wisdom and the way he knew the Word of God so well that he could almost always point us to Scripture and knew what God said when we had questions or needed advice. I so miss the discussions we would have and the way he could so clearly explain the Bible. He truly was the Godliest man I have ever known, and lived it every day of his life! The thing I will never forget and often see a picture of in my mind is the final look he gave me. He couldn't talk, but his eyes were saying, "Will you be ok without me? I will love you forever." And as I assured him I would be ok, I told him, "I love you. You can go be with your Jesus now." It was at that moment that I knew I would love him forever! I WILL always and forever love you, Ken Davis!!