Texting with you was an experience.   Your wit was everlasting... yet at times your vulnerability was exposed just a bit.  I still hear you in the corridors of my mind,  smiling at times when I realize bits of your vocabulary have become mine.   Even the local weather conjures up your frustration as you tried valiantly to deal with the stifling (and in your case crippling) heat of that summer's drought.   The current impact of Charlie Kirk's untimely passing reminds me of how far reaching our testimony can be.  

Your love of life,  your relentless drive to care for family and make sure everyone is okay,  they just reverbate continually.  As did your certainty of your place in Christ. 

You are certainly missed.  Never forgotten.  Save me a seat,  and light the grill! I love you,  Jack.  💖

Jack you sent this video to me a while back. I never thought it would one day speak my heart to you.  strangely enough,  Simon's Mom had just died, that's why the song touched him.  

I'm so EXTREMELY glad that you're finally home. But I'm a bit jealous that you're in such a great place, leaving me here.

I love you, Son. 

Hey, Jack…I thought about sharing some memories of you since it’s your birthday. I even began writing to you as if you were listening, sitting here with me. But Jack, I’ve written multiple pages and can’t stop! 

 Let me just say that you’re on my mind constantly. I hear your wisecracks when out to dinner, I see someone nearby and can guess what you would say. Your perspective has been burned into my brain. People wonder whether they’ll leave a lasting impact. Let me tell you, Jack, memories, opinions, stories you shared are all living on in so many.

You are loved. 

I cherish your days here with me. You beating me to heaven has only made it sweeter. I see you lighting the grill, already entertaining your loved ones there. 

 Celebrate, my Jack, it’s your birthday!

It isn't the big events: birthdays, holidays, or even songs. It's the little things that zap you like an electrical shock. The latest was when my little Chihuahua pup growled and snapped at me. She's never done that before-- yet I was almost brought to my knees, remembering nearly wetting my pants laughing as she cornered Jack and wouldn't let him leave his bedroom. (This back in Oklahoma in 2013). He loved it, even egged it on. Yet the look on his face...

If I didn't know you're in a magnificent place having a ball, it would absolutely choke me.  

Last summer not long after we said goodbye to Jack,  his sister sent him one more text.  

Poignant and full of love, the goodbye touched us all.  

In response, we shared the following:  "Jack would reply if he could... I'm sure he's too busy beating Moses and Jethro (Moses' father-in-law) at golf. Young, virile, healthy...

But yes, we ache now without him. The time together was priceless. And it fortified us a bit for these days ahead.  

Yet Jack, the simplest response of all: there is no one like you. Never has been. Never will be.  

You were a royal challenge and a stinker at times. A stinker with the biggest heart of gold.  

It will take a very long time for the ache to subside. We just keep clinging to the Promises... and looking up. Watching for Jesus' return. 

Till then? 

It's one more step. Just one more step.  

Eh?"

It was a simple but warm-hearted Father's Day this year, but I felt the Jack-sized hole without you here. You always took the reigns and made suggestions when "Dad's day" rolled around... either a larger-than-life gift  everyone had to chip in to, or the perfect place to take him for dinner. So today, Dad enjoyed his fav, Cracker Barrel, then later we had burgers and banana split pie at Ivy's. Plenty of laughs and love shared... we chased chickens and a turkey, ate deviled eggs, 🫣 your fav for ammo later... and endured the hot, humid miserable heat, but you were missed, big brother. 

P.S . I ate your piece of pie and gained 5 lbs. You're welcome. ☺️ I know... as you'd say, I didn't gain it, I was already hiding it--just where I couldn't see it!! 🙄🤣