She would not have liked me announcing that as she was a very private person and really didn't care for people to know too much about her. I still find it almost impossible to accept that she has been gone for over a year now, that her vibrant presence is no more, that her wise counsel and good sense have been silenced.
This evening at grief group I wanted to mention Nan's birthday tomorrow but several of us did not even get a chance to speak. We had some new people who are battling very serious cancer issues and rightfully the majority of the time went to hearing of their current struggles. I sense that in time the group may divide into two, one a support system for cancer sufferers and the other for those of use who have lost a loved one. We will see how things play out. I know that I was in Newark as darkness fell and I determined that if possible I would make it back on time. By using back roads I was able to arrive early, a first for me to this group.
I sort of feel like my life is on autopilot these days. I am deeply grateful for the nearly complete eradication of the lung issues and the coughing. For the last two days there has been less and less times of serious coughing and more and more peace. But the last two months have taken something away that has not yet returned, the will to achieve. I'm trying very hard to get more sleep, eat more carefully and drink much more water yet if I can put off a task for any reason I do so rather than tackle it. This is a new way of living and I don't really like it much. Orders have been down and many things that should have worked out this week have failed to materialize so the income has been minimal. I have a looming house payment to be paid in the next week which is unnerving and troubling.
Tomorrow is Nan's birthday. She was born 57 years ago on a plantation in the south as the third child to hard working parents. She grew up in south Texas and moved frequently from place to place depending on her father's work schedule. She early on started singing and even when very young would sing for church and evangelistic meetings. She was a beautiful child with long blond hair and brilliant blue eyes, fair skin and a petite build. During her time in high school she began to be pursued by the boys and her parents were alarmed to the point that they shipped her to California to live with Jim and Ann Hottal, who lived at Lodi Academy. Ann was back in school taking nursing and Rusty and Jan needed a sitter. Nan arrived to be that sitter and to be safer far away from the high school boys of Texas. She waded right into activities at Lodi, was in the choir, sang solos and dated Harvey Voth's son Dan. Harvey was the principal of the school. They were an item for awhile. After she graduated she found a job at Pinecrest Summer Camp near Tahoe. I had been hired by Uncle Charlie Edwards, conference youth director, to be the boy's director for the summer. That placed me in a position where I led the various counselors who were assigned to groups of kids each week. The first day I was there at camp after breakfast I was sitting with my good friend Jim Edwards who was Uncle Charlies son and who had been my roommate at PUC. He pointed out the really cute blond sitting at the next table and I took notice. I kept taking notice as the days and weeks went by and we discovered we both loved to sing and hike and climb mountains and before long it was pretty clear that our futures would be together. It was a great place to fall in love. That fall we both went to PUC where I was a senior and she a freshman. Its a wonder we both made it through the year as we spent so much time together. On the next day after I graduated we went back to Lodi and had a beautiful wedding at the old Adventist Church which now serves as the Spanish Adventist Church I believe. Then we spent a week in Oregon at a beach house a distant relative had supplied to us. Then it was back to PUC for the summer where I worked as a plumber helping build a new girls dorm and Nan took a food prep course called HEFS which eventually provided her with a certificate so she could work at food service departments at schools, senior citizen centers or other food prep places.
Nan was an inspiration as we worked our way through Andrews University and then came back to Sacramento Central as the youth minister. Shortly after arriving Nikki was born.
I have been blessed in thousands of ways by meeting and loving Nan. She never gave half, she always gave her best and her all to me. To all of you who know her well you will readily admit she was a treat and pleasure to know. How a poor farm boy from the fields of Washington ended up falling in love with this lovely lady from Texas is a mystery but I've got the marvelous memories to treasure. Thank you Nan for giving, giving and then giving some more. Thank you for being here those nearly 56 years of which I got to spend with you from age 19 on. Wow what a great experience.
Good night my friends and family, let us be thankful!
love
tim
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