Welcome Home, Thy Good and Faithful Servant

I told you in my last post that I would be presenting another book for your reading enjoyment, but, due to unforeseen circumstances, that will have to wait.

Last Thursday, the 19th, Stewart and I got in the car and made our way to Crescent City, Florida for a few days of getting away and visiting my long-time girlfriend. I drove and he handled the new collection of country classic CDs we'd ordered. 

The eight-hour trip turned into nine and a half hours after encountering a traffic jam in South Carolina that took an hour and a half to clear. No matter, we sang to the music and enjoyed the trip. We took our little dog, Winston, with us and he sat in the back seat enjoying the view from the window. 

At 7:30 pm we arrived at my friend's house; she came out to meet us and I introduced her to Stewart. We then got the rollator out of the car so he could get in the house and sit down. At that point, he immediately passed from this life to the next. Paramedics were called and they worked on him at the house, in the ambulance and in the hospital, for forty minutes to no avail.

When my friend and I arrived at the hospital, we were put into a room and told, "Wait here, the doctor will be in to talk with you."  I knew what that meant and began to steel myself for the news. There's no easy way to tell someone their loved one has died. 

While the ambulance was still at the house, I called Cyndi and Bill to tell them what was happening and they immediately got in the car to start the drive south. I met up with them the next afternoon, Friday, at the funeral home.

Monday, Cyndi drove me home and Bill stayed in Florida to be able to bring his dad's ashes home when ready. 

Do not grieve for Stewart. He no longer has to struggle for every breath. He's no longer tethered to an oxygen hose. He no longer needs a walker or wheelchair to get around. He was 86 years old and had a sparkle in his eyes that reflected his amazing zest for life. 

We knew when we got married that we wouldn't have a long marriage and we didn't, but we packed a lot of living into the two years we had. We both felt that the two years we had together (plus two years before we married)  were better than all our other years lived prior to meeting each other.  

God is good. He gave us those few wonderful years together and He got us right to my girlfriend's house before taking Stewart so it didn't happen somewhere on the road where I would have been all alone in the middle of nowhere. I praise Him for that. 

Stewart was an aide to the Admiral for seven years in the Navy; he was a master electrician in construction up until he retired in 2000; and he raised six children of his own and four more children of his second wife. And he loved my three children as though they were his own. 

He came from an intact loving family that went to church and said grace at meals and instilled in him a strong set of values that he carried to his last breath. The world has lost a powerful, wonderful man, but Heaven is all the better for his arrival.  He is now reunited with his parents, sister, and four of his six children. He will never again have to bury another child. 

I very much look forward to reuniting with him one sweet day and feeling the warmth of his strong arms around me forever.

Quote of the Day: Death is nothing else but going home to God. Mother Teresa

 

Death Upon a Midnight Clear

For all my readers, I have two treats for you. One I’ll tell you about now, and the other will be the subject of my next blog.

I have a writer friend who goes by the name of Det. James E. Lewis, Retired. Upon leaving the U.S. Marines, he joined the Louisville Police Force where he became detective and did  undercover work with street people. His novels relate his experiences in the police force. I interviewed Jim in October of 2018 when his first book came out, Back in the Game. You can find that blog post over here on the left side.

His second book, Death Upon a Midnight Clear, is equally as good, if not better. I’m shouting from the rooftops that everyone ought to indulge themselves and get lost in the world of Jim’s alter ego, Retired Detective Ray Conway. As a bonus, the dry-witted Colonel from his first book plays a large part in this story as well.

In Death, a homeless woman, who’s known only as Maggie a mean drunk, finds a newborn baby on a church doorstep during the Christmas season and claims it as her own. Where are the baby’s parents? Why does Maggie name the baby Mike? What is Maggie’s real name? Who is the dead girl in the woods? These are questions the police want answered and soon the investigation is under way.

Jim Lewis is a genius at hooking his readers and pulling them in. Here are the book’s opening lines:

          You know the day has potential to be lousy when you’re jolted awake at two in the morning by the cell phone shrieking, blue lights flooding the neighborhood and police banging on the front door.

          Not even bothering to roll over, Maureen indicates her displeasure from her side of the bed in that special tone of voice that only an experienced police wife owns; “I think your police buddies want you to come out and play. Now tell them to knock off the noise before they wake up the whole neighborhood! Again!”

And it just gets better and better from there. Jim gives you a realistic look at the ins and outs of police life and does it with a sense of humor that’ll keep you engrossed right up to the last page.

Jim says, “This book, like my others, are about people I met on the street while serving in law enforcement. What I would like readers to take from the story is that no one is born a drunk or homeless and sometimes what you don’t say is more important than what you do say. Everyone has a story and maybe if we take the time to look past the moment, we can give them a hand up. Good things happen when we care about one another.”

Do yourself a favor and go to Amazon.com and order this book for a great summer read. Trust me, you won’t regret it.

Today's Quote: Most people never really sat down and got to know a homeless person, but every homeless person is just a real person that was created by God and it is the same kind of different as us; they just have a different story. Ron Hall