RIP Kenneth Mims
My Papa passed away this morning. As some of you know, he's been really sick since December. Today, he went home for good to be with his lovely wife of over sixty years. She went home to be with Jesus two years ago. It was peaceful and he was very ready.
My grandfather was a WWII vet who signed up to serve in the United States Navy on his 17th birthday. He couldn't wait to serve his country in wartime after the attack on Pearl Harbor in 1941. He was aboard one of the first ships to reach the survivors of the torpedoed USS Indianapolis.
He met my grandmother when they were still kids and he loved her all his life. I actually have a beautiful gold and garnet ring that he gave to her when they were fifteen. If you've ever seen the movie The Notebook, then that is my Grandparents' story. He went off to war, she got engaged to another, then he came home and won her back. They adored each other.
He was a total prankster and was always quick with a joke and a smile. He was an amazing man and I will miss him.
Anyway, things have been a bit hectic today, as you can imagine. He was well prepared though and so everything is pretty much set. He's getting a Military funeral at the National Cemetery here in Houston on Wednesday. My mom and I loved this story we heard about in church one day from Winston Churchill's funeral, so we're going to do one of the same things. At Churchill's funeral it ended with a bugler in one tower playing Taps, and as the final notes of Taps faded, another bugler in another tower started playing Reveille. We're going to do something similar. The military will get a bugler for us, and we've asked that they play Taps and then immediately follow it with Reveille, as if to say goodbye, but he's waking up in the next life.
To quote C.S. Lewis, "you are - as you used to call it in the Shadow-Lands - dead. The term is over; the holidays have begun. The dream is ended; this is the morning... We can most truly say that they all lived happily ever after. But, for them, it was only the beginning of the real story. All their life in this world and all their adventures in Narnia had only been the cover, and the title page: now at last they were beginning Chapter One of the Great Story which no one on Earth has read: which goes on forever: in which every chapter is better than the one before."
I highlighted the above portion because whenever I die, that is what I want on my gravestone. I don't want my family to be afraid or to be sad to leave me behind. I'm not here anymore. I know where I'm going. I also know that I'll see Mimi, Papa, my Uncle John, and my baby cousin Ryder who passed away a couple of years ago at age 22 months. Part of me can't wait to see what no eye has seen and no ear has heard. Until that day, I'll miss him and all those who have gone before. God is good. He gave us three extra, wonderful months with him, even after the doctors told us he wouldn't make it two hours. We've treasured every moment of the time we had with him.
My grandfather was a WWII vet who signed up to serve in the United States Navy on his 17th birthday. He couldn't wait to serve his country in wartime after the attack on Pearl Harbor in 1941. He was aboard one of the first ships to reach the survivors of the torpedoed USS Indianapolis.
He met my grandmother when they were still kids and he loved her all his life. I actually have a beautiful gold and garnet ring that he gave to her when they were fifteen. If you've ever seen the movie The Notebook, then that is my Grandparents' story. He went off to war, she got engaged to another, then he came home and won her back. They adored each other.
He was a total prankster and was always quick with a joke and a smile. He was an amazing man and I will miss him.
Anyway, things have been a bit hectic today, as you can imagine. He was well prepared though and so everything is pretty much set. He's getting a Military funeral at the National Cemetery here in Houston on Wednesday. My mom and I loved this story we heard about in church one day from Winston Churchill's funeral, so we're going to do one of the same things. At Churchill's funeral it ended with a bugler in one tower playing Taps, and as the final notes of Taps faded, another bugler in another tower started playing Reveille. We're going to do something similar. The military will get a bugler for us, and we've asked that they play Taps and then immediately follow it with Reveille, as if to say goodbye, but he's waking up in the next life.
To quote C.S. Lewis, "you are - as you used to call it in the Shadow-Lands - dead. The term is over; the holidays have begun. The dream is ended; this is the morning... We can most truly say that they all lived happily ever after. But, for them, it was only the beginning of the real story. All their life in this world and all their adventures in Narnia had only been the cover, and the title page: now at last they were beginning Chapter One of the Great Story which no one on Earth has read: which goes on forever: in which every chapter is better than the one before."
I highlighted the above portion because whenever I die, that is what I want on my gravestone. I don't want my family to be afraid or to be sad to leave me behind. I'm not here anymore. I know where I'm going. I also know that I'll see Mimi, Papa, my Uncle John, and my baby cousin Ryder who passed away a couple of years ago at age 22 months. Part of me can't wait to see what no eye has seen and no ear has heard. Until that day, I'll miss him and all those who have gone before. God is good. He gave us three extra, wonderful months with him, even after the doctors told us he wouldn't make it two hours. We've treasured every moment of the time we had with him.