Love and Memories Revisited

Once a year for the Christmas season, the memorial gardens where my beloved departed grandfather, my Papaw Ray, lays in eternal peaceful rest, they do a site wide candle lighting ceremony. I always make sure I am there, to see all the beautiful lights, to make sure Papaw's candle is lit, and to bring his tiny Christmas tree and an angel of some sort to his final resting place. It's an emotional time for me on that night, just as it is every other time I visit, because I've had 4 incredibly important men in my life that mean more than any other to me, and two of them are already gone, one of them being Papaw, the other being my step-dad. One of the two surviving I speak of isn't even a man yet, and was the single most important thing to my Papaw Ray in his last years, and to him, nothing was greater than his eldest grandchild, me, and his great grandson, my son, Matt aka Lil'Jack, and his grandkids were his world. He was a family man, and taken from me too soon in his life at only 68 years old. He is the reason I am what I am now, and my art is dedicated to him, for he believed in me first. My graphics business is named for him and is due to open in 2009, and my nickname 'Stingray' was derived from his name as well as being something I collect.

In this photo, which isn't something I'd normally display, but being so personal and so dear to me, I decided it should go on here, as a way to show my eternal and undying love for Papaw. The lights behind me and my family as we stand there shine on like little beacons of love shown for others who rest there in the distance, as their families come to light the candles just as I have.

"For everything he did for me and the love he got to show, for the times he was there and for the time he isn't here for now, all I do, I do it for him, I am strong, I know how to get along, and life is good, I do it because Papaw told me so."