In February I drove back home with buckets of flowers and three little people loaded to the gills with all the finest preservative filled refreshments money could buy to hold my papa Don's hand one last time and say goodbye. He was my hero, and had fought the past several months prior to recover from heart surgery that finally ended his amazing life. There are not words to express my love, gratitude, and respect that I had for him. Growing up around him, and working with him and my grandmother on the family farm is still such a defining piece of who I am today. Having the opportunity to stand in my mothers kitchen and create a very small tribute to him and my family was a precious opportunity for me, and it granted me the ability to compose my personal eulogy of how much I dearly loved him. Knowing that I will see him again someday provides me comfort. Knowing who he was and what he stood for throughout his life will continue to inspire me to venture forward .... so in his words that ring often in my mind, "nothing ventured, nothing gained!"
