HELLO!!!!   Wow, it has been a LONG time since I showed my face on this blog!  I didn’t even remember how to log into my site when I decided to hop on today!  I’m so thankful to be here though.  I have seriously missed blogging.  I wrote a guest post for my sweet friend Meg this past week and all I could think about was this here blog.  So it’s time.  I’m finally here.  It doesn’t seem right to just jump right back in though without sharing a tiny bit of why it’s taken me so long to get back in the blogging game.  I could elaborate on the whole story, but it’s really not my story to tell.  As I struggled with what to write, Nick’s sister-in-law, Kathryn, gave me a brilliant idea to share my favorite memories instead of the details.  For today, I’ll stick with the bare basics and then we’ll go right into what this post is all about – the stories that ARE mine to tell.

July 26, 2015

Nick and I were on our way home from visiting my friend Lacy and meeting her new boyfriend when we got a call that his sister & dad had been in a motorcycle accident.  It is with a heavy heart that I share, Mr. Corby died a hero that day.  Mr. Corby threw his sister off the bike and she sustained multiple injuries.  She had to undergo a few different surgeries, but praise the Lord from whom all blessings flow for her survival, her strength, and her road to full recovery!  It has been a difficult season for sure, but again, we are tremendously blessed!  I have very vivid memories of the phone call, the drive home, the hospital, the funeral, and just… everything.  I’m choked up right now remembering it all, reliving it all.  The funeral was absolutely perfect… now that I say that it seems like an odd thing to say, but Mr. Corby was well represented, the fire department pulled out all the stops in honoring him, and I think he would have truly been touched to see how many lives he changed during his lifetime.  In an effort to continue honoring his life, I want to share my favorite memories of Mr. Corby.

Nick & His Dad Working Together

This is where a lot of my favorite memories come from.  I love hearing stories about things they did together and I loved watching them do projects together.  Mr. Corby taught Nick SO MUCH and I believe he gave him the foundation to be the resourceful man that he is today.  I’m so thankful for that!  I have fond memories of them washing my car together, working on my car together, building stuff together, and so on.

Slightly embarrassed to share a selfie like this, but it’s one of the only pictures I have of the two them working together.  Nick is helping Mr. Corby put a fence in on a property they have.  I was not much help, clearly.  That man did not shy away from hard labor, even after his scare with heart issues.  There were plenty of times after his heart surgery that I was shocked to see him doing some of the active things he did! I am glad Nick has too many memories to count from working alongside his dad as a child, a teenager, and as an adult.

Nick’s First Marathon

Nick and his siblings sure did know how to make Mr. Corby proud!  Mr. Corby bragged to all of his buddies about how his son finished a marathon with no training.  I remember that day so clearly.  It was dreary – I wore a rain jacket and some wind breaker pants.  I had a backpack with me.  Mr. Corby, his girlfriend, and her grandson joined us that weekend in Birmingham.  The marathon was a looped course that the racers completed twice.  I got a map and figured out the best way to walk around the course and catch Nick 3-4 times on each loop.  The first half of the marathon, they all followed along with my route.  We got to see Nick a handful of times and cheer him on.  We stopped at a Starbucks where Mr. Corby made fun of me for wasting $5 on a fancy drink.  He had given me $20 that day for food and such so I assured him that I used my own money to purchase my drink.  He was such a giver, but he was frugal at the same time.  He saw no point in spending $5 on a coffee and he made sure I knew that!  I had gotten pretty good at carrying on fun banter with him about things like that though so it didn’t bother me.  We laughed it off and joshed with one another.  He was a fun guy to laugh & joke with.  After we made our first loop around and Nick had completed half of his marathon, Mr. Corby asked, “Alright, so what do y’all want to do now?” and I said, “Well Mr. Corby, Nick has another half to finish so we’re going to take that same route again.”  You should have seen the look on his face! haha  He couldn’t believe that I was about to do that again.  I will admit, this was one of those things that occurred after his heart surgery, so all that walking had worn him out.  He said Heck no to my idea and they went back to the car and hung out while I made another loop around the course.  You can bet though that he made sure he was at that finish line to cheer Nick on!

Thanksgiving 2014

We certainly didn’t realize this was the last Thanksgiving we had to spend with him, but I don’t think there has been a Thanksgiving where we were more thankful to have him with us!  This was very soon after his heart surgery.  If I’m not mistaken, it was also the first time he was able to meet his first grandchild.  He was slow moving and wasn’t able to do too much on this trip, but we made the most of it.  He loved any opportunity to have his kids all together and although we missed him so so much this year, I’m glad that our last thanksgiving was well spent!

My own Personal Quality Time

After Mr. Corby’s heart surgery, I was the only one around town.  Nick & Samantha were back at school, Collette was teaching in Texas, and Trey & Kathryn had recently moved to Florida.  I tried to make it a priority to go visit when I could.  I certainly didn’t go as much as I wish I would have now.  Sheila would make us all dinner (with some vegetarian options thrown in) and we would sit and watch Friends.  I let him borrow my complete series to help him get through recovery since he wasn’t allowed to be as active as he was used to.  We would also go out to eat and then come back for dessert and to watch Friends.  He had no problem making me feel like part of the family!  I’m forever grateful for the quality time I had with him when everyone else wasn’t in town.

Mr. Corby, thank you for always including me when you didn’t have to, thank you for loving your kids more than life itself, thank you for the many many jokes & laughs, thank you for the memories that will last us a lifetime.  You will forever be missed.  We love you!