I would like to dedicate this posting to my father, Courtney (Corky) Keith Parker, who passed away on Jan.12th at the age of 72.

Looks like 2009 has come in like a lion for us. We had a good Christmas and New Year's was quiet but nice. My mother was admitted to the hospital. Then my father became quite ill the same day and was admitted as well. Unfortunately, he was unable to fight the pneumonia that he had because of all the numerous other conditions that he also had and passed away with my immediate family and my mother at his side. He had a hard go of it the last year and was just tired out. I miss him terribly but am relieved he is no longer suffering - it was just so hard on him- he truly didn't deserve how tough it was this past year. I hope he is finding some great fishing holes up there and having many games of crib with my grandmother and grandfather as well.

My father was always good to me. We had our moments but as we both aged we learned to respect each other and enjoy just being. As his abilities diminished, so did his joy in life. He was always so pleased when my mother or I went to visit and was especially thrilled when one of his brothers would come. Right until the end, he would blow me a kiss and tell me how much he loved me. I miss our "breakfast dates", as we called them, and watching monster truck shows (eventhough I still don't like them). I still continue to watch fishing shows early in the morning as I kind of got hooked (bad pun) on them. I am so glad I had all the time I did with my dad and will never regret any of it. I hope he forgives me for singing to him in my wonderfully tuneless voice and all the inane stories I told him that he would patiently listen to.

I have to admit I was pretty overwhelmed by it all but am now understanding and accepting all the changes that have taken place in my life. I know it is more difficult for my siblings who are not in close proximity because they don't see the everyday little things that happen so changes such as these are probably even more overwhelming for them. For them these things happen in chunks of time rather as a continuum of life.

So life continues...

I haven't had any time to quilt, so Hubby's birthday quilt looks like it is not going to be a birthday quilt. I might just give him the pieces and see what he would like on it. Sometimes input is nice and it would become a collaborative piece instead - not such a bad idea the more I think about it.

So on to another day...take care and stitch well.