My Biggest Fans

Late last year, Steve said he felt like our family needed to make a trip to Wisconsin for Christmas. Although I had been with my parents and five siblings (who all live in Wisconsin and Minnesota) many times since I got married, it had been almost thirty years since I had been able to be with them at Christmas.

So we decided that it was time to go.

And as it turned out, it was more than time to go--it was also timely for us to go. Because Christmas 2008 was the last Christmas my dad would be us.

So we packed our bags and made the 2,500 hundred mile, round trip journey, creating a lot happy, snowy memories in the process.







Here I am at my parent's house, playing a game with my oldest brother Tim, and youngest sister, Debbie, and their families.




One evening during our visit, we went with Mom and Dad to one of their many nursing home concerts.




I did a couple songs with them, which was really special for me since they are the ones who gave me my love (and talent) for music. They encouraged me every step of the way as I became a guitar player, a piano player, a songwriter, and a singer. It is no exaggeration to say that they have always been my biggest fans.




And just to demonstrate that music is a great gift to pass down through the generations, Steve and I performed a song with Nathan.


At the end of the visit when we said our good byes, none of us knew that we wouldn't see Dad again.



But as much as I miss him, I know that Dad is healed, whole, and happy and that he's staying busy in heaven, telling all of his dramatic stories.


I also know that whether on earth or in heaven, he and mom will never stop being my biggest fans.

And I am blessed.

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From the Comments Section

There were a couple questions/comments about how old I was when I got married.

Steve was twenty-four and I was just nineteen. In fact, when I got married, I was younger than Nathan is right now. Yikes!

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Kathy asked if I had any family in Mount Holly, NC.

Kathy, Steve's parent's live in the Coulwood neighborhood, and his two brothers are both within fifteen minutes of Paw Creek church. None of them live specifically in Mount Holly, though.