Not Goodbye, Check You Later!

Yesterday was an incredibly hard day.  We had to say "goodbye" to a wonderful man, my father-in-law, Lloyd Reed Sr.  Our family will never be the same without him.  We were incredibly fortunate to have had him in our lives as long as we did.  For me, besides the hurt I feel for losing him, it was so hard to watch my mother-in-law lose her husband of 42 years, my husband lose his father, and my daughter go through her first heart break as she said goodbye to her Grandpa.  It is also heart breaking to know that my son won't grow up knowing his "Bumpa."  We will all make sure he knows he had a Grandpa who loved him to pieces.  We will tell him about the things that his Grandpa did that made us all laugh, or made our hearts swell with love.  The service was beautiful and completely perfect for him.  The pastor did a wonderful job capturing his character and telling stories he heard about my father-in-law, just right.  He was loved by many, as evident by the masses of people, overflowing through the church, that came to pay their respect.  As we pick up our lives and try to move on, I feel I can't really say "goodbye."  To me, saying goodbye means forever and that's just too sad.  I believe I will see him again some day, when my time on this earth is up.  So I will say, "Check you later, Big Lloyd!  Thank you for everything and until we meet again!"