see you in the funnies

Paul Martin King 1937-2013

A few years ago, I started to get the itch to move. It was crazy because I loved where I lived and I liked my house. I then decided maybe we would just live internationally for a year so then we wouldn't have a permanent move. So we began the preparations for that, but by the time Summer 2012, we couldn't get everything to fall into place to move to a cute townhouse I had found in Valbonne, France. I kept having a thought that we should go to Utah so we could have Sunday dinners with my parents each week. I had no desire to move to Utah. We were lucky to be able to spend weeks at a time there visiting Utah because of Jeff's work flexibility and so I felt like I had a great connection with my family even though we didn't leave near each other. I loved growing up there, but I also love change and so I wasn't keen on being back to a place where I had already experienced. Since everything else wasn't working out, we decided to just go ahead and go to Utah. We listed our house and it was rented out within a week. We then packed everything up and headed to my parent's house and stayed a month until we were able to move into a basement apartment below my sister's house. My parents then invited us over each week for dinner at their house and I actually always sat next to my dad because Kathryn insisted sitting by my mom. My parents were really good about attending most of the activities that my kids were involved in and they even came to Las Vegas with us for Kiley's gymnastics meets. Throughout the year, we watched my dad's health decline. Nothing was ever diagnosed, but he kept losing weight like crazy. We had originally planned to head back to Georgia July 2013, but that wasn't working out and so we decided to stay until October. We ended going on a big roadtrip at the end of the summer. While we were gone my dad was really sick and hospitalized (again!) and that's when they found the large mass on his pancreas. The doctors were shocked that he was still alive. We weren't sure how long he had had it, but they told him he had 4-6 months to live when he was discharged from the hospital the end of August. He lived for another month so we were able to all come to terms with it and say our goodbyes. I am so thankful that he was so strong for us and endured for another month so we could have that special time. The whole experience was so spiritual that I hadn't expected at all. Now that the shock has worn off, I feel like we are all beginning to mourn. I don't know where the wind will blow us next, but I am thankful we followed the prompting to move, not fully understanding the whys behind our decision. I know my kids will now have memories with their grandpa that they will cherish for the rest of their lives. Love you dad! See you in the funnies!