Connie

A few thoughts now, other than I loved him and was so blessed that he loved me so much. I’m very happy we had our time together. I know Bob had no regrets in his life at all. The girls and I are very confident that his is so happy right now.
The most important thing to Bob was the safety and happiness of his girls. He was an overprotective dad all out of love. He was so very proud of everything that they were doing. Something very important to him was hard work in whatever you do, and being a productive member of society, and he was so honored that they learned those lessons well. Bob died with a very close bond to his girls and couldn’t have been more proud.
He loved gardening, always experimenting – mostly his vegetables – he loved harvest time. The flowers were kind of an afterthought. He was very generous though, recently a visitor came to our door and complimented our gardens and asked if it was mostly Connie’s doing. He said it was both of us. We had a good laugh about it when he told me that evening, I gave him a kiss and said thank you, for I don’t think I’ve spent even an hour on the gardens this year.
Our gas meter was attached to the side of our house along the driveway. For 10 years, every time I backed out of our driveway he would say “don’t hit the gas meter”, as if I forgot it was there. When the gas company was in the neighborhood doing some work, he spoke to one of the employees and told him that he was not comfortable with his wife’s driving all of the time (she doesn’t use her mirrors) and he had two daughters coming up soon to get their driver’s licenses – and they decided in no uncertain terms that the meter would be moved to our basement – no charge either, I guess if you have 3 women drivers involved it’s important enough of a risk…..
The neighbors thought he was such a coffee drinker, and he was. But, if it was after 5:00 in the afternoon, there was wine in that coffee mug.
Things important to Bob in order of importance – God, family, work. I gave him a new Bible when he agreed to teach 3rd grade Sunday school and he just could not get enough – it didn’t take him long to realize that the answer to everything is in The Book. Bob has spent one to two hours each morning for the last 20 years reading scripture before he starts his day. He had a prayer list so long, I’m sure everyone that has touched him in some way has been on that list for their triumphs and sorrows.
Bob was very particular to put it mildly.
If it was snowing NO ONE could drive on the driveway until it was cleared off. Not a flake.
There were no stickers allowed in our house after he had a Barbie sticker on the seat of his suit at a client prospect meeting.
Each month he reconciled all of our accounts and very often I would not be able to find a receipt for something I charged. He tried everything to let me know the importance of having receipts. Finally he put a binder clip by my computer where I keep my purse. After a while, I finally got a thank you note from him when every single receipt was in that clip.
Whenever I cleaned the house in a frenzy he would say, “Are your sisters coming?”
My last memory of him was visiting him in the hospital on Wednesday night. He was feeling great and that was the first time he took food by mouth since his surgery. I handed him his broth and you would have thought he was putting a steak in his mouth. He felt great and I sat in the recliner next to his bed and we watched our favorite reality talent show and were laughing and talking about each contestant. He finally said to me, “you can go if you want to, Connie”. I looked at him and told him I wanted to stay because being with him was the most important thing in my life. We sat together side by side for quite a while. On any other night, I could have looked at my watch and told him, sure, I’ll go and I’ll see you tomorrow. But I stayed – and my friend Miki told me that was God’s gift to me. Agreed.