I Miss Him

I'm not sure why, but I've been missing John Moeller a lot lately. John is the one who started up Carpenter's Son Construction where Scott has been employed for the past 9 years and John was also a huge part of our church. His daughter is Nancy Moeller Hutchins who some of you may have had for an English teacher at good ol' MHS. So with all this being said, Scott and I spent some time with The Moeller's. John and Diane hosted the company Christmas party year after year where we would sit in the great room and marvel over the giant Christmas tree they had and who could forget the train set that John had going around, through, and under the tree? He was so proud of that train and loved to show anyone how it worked. Sadly, John passed away in May. Scott and I visited him several times in the hospital, once being in March where he was so concerned about his hair loss and how large his ears must have looked. He told us stories of how his grandchildren said how much he looked like a monkey, and he did, but I will tell you that he was the cutest Pop monkey you've ever seen. Scott brought the newspaper clippings from the tornado we were recently in. And he told us how he couldn't wait to have a new addition to our family. This struck a cord with me. He didn't say to "the family", but instead "our family". This made me realize how much he treated us like we were part of his blood. He was discharged in March, and was quickly back in the hospital in late April. This time, he wouldn't leave. Scott and I again visited with him on May 3rd, not ready to say good bye. I promised myself that I wouldn't cry, we knew Diane had been spending night and day by John's side and I insisted on standing strong for her. I broke my promise. At this point we found out several weeks earlier that we were having a girl, and we wanted him to know. Diane was so excited for us as we whispered to her what we were having and giving her details. John was struggling so hard to stay awake and to be apart of the conversation. Diane went over to John and told him that we found out the sex of the baby and before we knew it, he grabbed his oxygen mask, lifted it over his head, and said with his eyes closed,"Girl". I will NEVER forget that moment as long as I live. There's no way, he heard us tell Diane, and that's when I broke my promise. As we left the hospital, we knew it didn't look good. And at 10:40 a.m. the next day while Scott and I were on our way to church, we got the call that John had passed away. When we went to visit the family and to say our good bye's at the funeral home, I was so upset to see that John didn't have his hearing aides in anymore. And he needed those hearing aides, he couldn't hear anything without them. When you would hug John, those silly hearing aides would squeak and squeal. Without them, he couldn't hear and seeing him without them made me sad. I miss his absolutely beautiful clear blue eyes. His eyes were the color blue that you could almost see through, they were gorgous. John's funeral was later that week and his family did such a good job of honoring him. Scott and I shared stories, so many of them laugh until your stomach hurt funny, and some of them so heart warming and comforting. John was the type of person you along with your children would want for a Pop. I'm sad that Mackenzie never had the opportunity to meet him, I know she would have loved him and I know he would have loved and treated her like one of his own. He was wonderful, and I miss him...a lot.