All around me

In the morning, when I get up and get into the shower, I think of moving in to our house at Fort Stewart.  I wanted a fancy new shower head, so Poppy went with me to Wal-Mart and helped me pick out a new one.  And then he got it all installed in our master bath that day.  We brought it with us, and we are still using it.

In our bedroom, our headboard,

our nightstand tables, a step stool, and a hope chest were all "Handcrafted by Emory C. Parrish," according to the official name stamp that he

applied to all of his creations:

In the kitchen, I can see the curtains that he made for me in 2003, and that I have used in many different houses. 

There is also a wooden sunflower sitting in my window.  It is bright and cheery, and he bought it for me at a little shop in Germany when he and Mimi came to visit us.

I see him in pictures.  I smile when I think of what he would say or do if he were here.  I look at my kitchen table and I can picture him sitting there, like he did countless times when he came to see us. 

He would be drinking a cup of coffee and thinking about his day - most of the time barefooted, which drove Mimi crazy because it made her feet cold just looking at him.

I see the things that he hung for me at this house. 

And I think of all of the times he hung them for me at all of our other houses.  And I think of the things that I wanted to hang when he wasn't here.  But I would call him, and he would walk me through it.  He never got impatient when I did not know what he was talking about.

I also use the cabinet he built for us.  My kitchen at Ft. Stewart was terribly small with no storage or counter space, so he built me one to fit the corner of the kitchen.  Now it comes with us everywhere we move.

I see the books that he sent to Jessa and Spencer.  They arrived a few weeks before he died.  I love the notes he wrote to them.  I love seeing his handwriting.

Speaking of books, he found some old books in the basement.  They were Momma and Danny's books.  Lucas and I read them when we were younger.  He called me once he found them to see if I wanted them before he gave them away.  I said that I would love to look at them.  When he arrived on his next visit to Scott, he had boxes of books AND a bookshelf that he built to store them in.  Now that is full service, right?

And there is the tool box and doll bed that he fixed up for them.

The tool box,

was Poppy's and then Uncle Danny's.  He refinished it and brought it to Spencer.

The doll bed,

was Momma's.  He repainted it and brought it to Jessa.

I think of him when I feed Stewart on the table that he built specifially for him to keep his food and litter box out of the way.

I can't help but grin when I open the freezer and see the bags of pecans that he bought for all of us every year.

I miss him so much. 

I feel such a loss.

But he is still here,

and everytime I an reminded of him,

my heart smiles.