In Remembrance

I don't mean to post something depressing but there are some events in life that are depressing and there is no way around it but I don't feel that it needs to brushed off or forgot. To me remembering someone or a certain event is the best way to show respect and the best tribute.

On this day, December 3rd, in 2006 Cliff Miller past away. On this day I would like to post this message of remembrance to the world, though I know that very few will ever read it. There are times that I wish more in the world had the opportunity to have meet this amazing man. Cliff Miller was a lot of things to many different people. He was first and foremost a husband and a father. His family, especially his wife Donna, meant everything to him. He worked much of his adult life, doing all he could to provide for them and make them happy. He was also a grandfather who cherished his grandchildren. He was a wonderful brother and uncle. Cliff was also a great friend to many with stories to tell and a helping hand to all. He was also a funny and friendly stranger to some customers at Walmart or Home Depot (just to name a few). Cliff was also a Mr. Fix It, actually that title probably doesn't justify his talents. He built and fixed so much in his lifetime. He used his talents to help his family and others. All of these things I have said not as one of his children but as one who heard evidence of who he was as a man from his loved ones and from his own mouth.

For my part, Cliff was my father-in-law and a dear friend. I had the privilege of living in his home for a couple years before he past away. I am so grateful for that time to get to know him better, see him everyday and be the audience of more stories. Cliff and I also shared the love of food (AS DO MANY) but I always thought he shared his love of food in a great and memorable way. One phrase to describe delicious food was, "this is out of this world" and he spoke only in that great Cliff way that made it funny and endearing.

In this remembrance I share two pictures. One is more of the Cliff Miller that family and old friends know as well as when I first meet him. The other is the way Cliff looks in my mind when I think of him. That was the way Cliff looked when I spent time with and gained so much from knowing him, eating dinner with him, hearing his stories and when I would see him work on his house projects.

What is fortunate about this blog is that I can share these words and thoughts without people seeing me cry. No one in his family was ready for him to go (not that anyone is ready). I know everyone who knows him miss him everyday. Sometimes I don't know what to do with my grief because I miss him like I was his child and I loved him like he was another father to me. Like many others who grieve I have found moments to be sad and cry on my own. But I guess not everyone gets to live in the same house as their father-in-law and not everyone loved their father-in-law the way I did so I should be grateful for the time I had with him. I know that his wife and children will someday be with him again. I know that someday I will see him again. As humans I think it is difficult to remember the Lord's plan and that it was the sacrifice of his son Jesus Christ that allows families to be together again, even after death. I know that my husband would never have been the man he is today if it weren't for the fact that he had a Dad like Cliff that raised him. And that is a legacy that will be past to our children and grandchildren and generations of the Miller family. Again I would like to say, if it already wasn't apparent in what I have already said in this post, I loved Cliff Miller and I will always remember him as an amazing man who left a wonderful legacy - a wonderful life with memories and a great family.