Whoa! What just happened!?!

So...indulge me for a second. And I promise I will cut down on the sappy posts. I swear just a second ago I was all wrapped up in having a new baby and managing 4 kids. And then you get sent a curve ball you weren't even expecting. We drove all night last Sunday back to California to make all the funeral arrangements for my dad. The love and support from my family and friends has been unreal. I can't even come up with all the right words to explain it. But I will try: from countless hours (really) spent at my dad's house...going through all the things you might collect in 66 years in the same house, to pulling the trailer into the driveway so we would have somewhere to stay, to just coming and getting my kids so they could play, to taking them to the beach, to crying silently with me, to letting me be lame to make it all seem less painful, to being there when I had to come back home...the list goes on and on and on.
I am grateful.
His sweet neighbors made that sign and put it in their yard. I could barely look at it. Teri said she kept looking over to the porch and expected to see him sitting there. Me too. I put out a scrapbook and his friends wrote fantastic stories for me to share with my kids...so they will know Grandpa Paul how other people saw him.
We had a viewing on Thursday night and this huge group from Chaffey College came. It was very cool to talk to them and hear the nice things they had to say about him. Chaffey College rocks in case you didn't know. And not just M&O. There were deans there and flowers from Athletics and the Classified Senate. His funeral was Friday. Riley sang, Courtney spoke, then I spoke and then Craig sang. When it was all done, one of his friends brought up a Chaffey shirt to be buried with him. We finished up at the Souper. A huge "Thank You!" to Molly for opening up the restaurant for us. It was just what he would have wanted.
I've learned a lot these last 13 days. One of the biggest lessons I've learned is to not put things off. Craig and my dad took 2 awesome trips to fish in Alaska...and I hate to think about the regrets we'd be having if we had waited for the "perfect time". My dad came up for the baby's birth...even though I had encouraged him to go on a pre-planned fishing trip. How sad I would feel now if he had gone fishing instead of meeting Maren.
We did a ton of cool things together: my dad rented a limo and took me and 2 friends to see the Jacksons at Dodger Stadium when I was in 6th grade. He even had a jeweled garden glove that he waved out the window!, we went to the Grand Canyon with the kids, to the San Diego Wild Animal Park, to Sea World, to Spain, and he always put up with us at the L.A. County Fair.
Thank you to my family...you know who you are...and to my sweet friends...like I said, I'm sure glad we stayed in touch!! HaHa!!
And I am most thankful to my Heavenly Father for the tender mercy of love that has simply enveloped me since August 9th.