Oct. 11, Tues. Back to Oregon

Tuesday, October 11th, 2005

Tues., Oct. 11      Back to Oregon

Today had a wonderful beginning and a very unexpected ending. 

Our daughter came home last night, and it was wondeful to see her!  I told her she had done a great job taking care of everything.  “Mom,” she said,  “the plants all died.  It was so hot, and I wan’t home enough to water them.”  I told her no problem–I can plant more.

She was going on a photo shoot at the historic Petaluma Adobe this morning, as part of a school project, and she invited me to join her, so I ended up carrying all the camera gear (that’s OK, I’ve gotten good at carrying stuff!) and we had a nice ramble and conversation as she took picture after picture. 

Just after we got home, came a totally unexpected phone call from Oregon.  It was our other daughter who is a student at Oregon State in Corvallis.  “Mom,” she said sadly, “Grandpa just died this morning.”  I was shocked.  My dad was 84 years old, and had been doing much better since he moved into an assisted living place in Corvallis, just after we started our PCT hike.  I had been planning to call him today to tell him we were safely back, and tell him about our trip.

So Bill and I were now pulling things out of drawers and closets and throwing them into suitcases (not packs!), not knowing how long we’d be gone.  We left for Oregon as soon as we could, and it was very strange to be driving BACK up the road we’d just driven HOME on, the day before.

But we know we will see my Dad again.  He put his trust in the lord Jesus Christ the summer after I did, after watching the ENORMOUS and wonderful change that had happened first to me, then to my mom.  He was so impressed that he quietly went to see the pastor of the church my mom and I had been going to, and said, “Something amazing has been happening to my daughter and then my wife.  I don’t know what it is–they say that they know Jesus now, and He is changing them.  Whatever it is, I want to get in on it, too.  What can I do?”  Well, the pastor was VERY glad to show him in the Bible “what to do”, and my dad came home “all new in Christ.”  So even though I was very sad about his passing, and I did cry some on the way to Oregon, because I will miss him very much, and I didn’t get to tell him about our trip, or show him our pictures, I know I’ll see him in Heaven, and we’ll have plenty of time then to talk about the PCT and anything else we want to talk about!  I was glad that he could finish his life’s “trail” without pain, just quietly falling asleep and then waking up with the Lord instead of waking up here on earth.  May we all be so blessed when it’s our turn to “cross the river.”

We spent the next week in Oegon, working on all the details of the funeral, and going through acres of stuff at my dad’s house,  till we were finally able to REALLY go home to stay…..till the NEXT time we do the PCT!  We already have a motto, “Do It Again in 2010!”

 

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