My G-Daddy

I can't believe it has already been six years today that my G-Daddy passed away and this time of year will always remind me of him...it's the labor day weekend and kick-off to Tennessee football and an excitement is in the air but it's also the time the Schmid family lost our patriarch. Chris and I had just moved back to Oklahoma after our wedding and I was starting my last semester at OU and I remember to this day sitting outside the HES building on campus on the bench under the tree "talking" to him for the last time...at this point he was in the nursing home and we knew his days were numbered. Someone had asked if he was hanging on for someone to come see him, etc before he passed and I was the only person away from home who had not seen or talked to him since moving to the nursing home. I know he heard me on the phone and I believe he knew it was me when all I could get out was "Hi G-Daddy" and maybe an "I love you" because I had tears streaming down my face, just like I do now. I was on a 5 AM flight the next day home to Knoxville and got here about 9 but it was too late to see him alive. I know every time I left to head back to school, either Furman or Oklahoma, it would always be an emotional good-bye and I can still see him standing in his driveway crying as I would pull away after my visit. I believe he was living to make it to see our wedding before he died. I love him and miss him terribly, and even though I know he watches over us every day and knows about Brooke, his first great-granddaughter (to-be), I wish he was here in person to see and enjoy this new chapter in our lives. This picture is one of my favorites and sits front and center on my dresser.Here is me and my G-Daddy when he and Gran came to visit us in Lexington. Maybe I can capture a picture like this of Brooke and her grandfather (not sure dad's new name yet!) on day.