An Update

I think I said before that if you don’t hear from us, that’s a good thing because all is well and we are busy having fun but that is not the case this time.

Most of you who read our blog already know that our younger son, Grady, died in March. He was only 32 years old. We have been surrounded by the love, care and prayers of friends and family. I have heard it said, when someone loses a child that having a second one never takes the place of the one who is gone. That is certainly true but it has been a blessing beyond belief to have our older son, Charlie and his precious wife, Kathleen, at our side, not to mention our six-year-old grandson, Ryland. Whenever it gets gloomy around here, we focus on them and thank God for them. We had Grady’s remains cremated and his service (it’s still hard for me to say funeral) was held at our church here in Fairhope, St. James Episcopal Church. We initially said no to a service, then said it would be family only and finally decided a regular service might help us and, sure enough, it did. It was comforting to plan the service with our pastor, Don Smith (another blessing to us) and have our former pastor from Jackson, MS, Chuck Poole,come to be with us and deliver the homily. Chuck really knew Grady and beautifully summed up Grady’s short life. Grady’s ashes have now been placed in our church columbarium, right next to the space reserved for Gorman and me. Charlie and Kathleen have a portion of the ashes and will go to Colorado to scatter them on the Rocky Mountains since Grady loved those mountains and moved there so he could mountain-bike and hike.

Throughout all this, Gorman and I give all the praise and glory to our Lord God, who has walked with us every step of the way, has covered us with His peace, that peace that surpasses all understanding and has given us the strength for each day.

And now we come to Gorman’s next MRI. So much has happened in the past three months that it’s hard to believe that it’s time for the next one which will be next Monday, June 1, at UAB in Birmingham. It has been three years and four months since his diagnosis. All his doctors are amazed. We hope we get another three months. As always we thank you all for your prayers. We feel those prayers and they keep us going.