Happy Birthday Hank

Today is your birthday. You would have been 60 today. But instead you’ve been gone for 3 months. I want to celebrate the day but it’s hard because I’m still grieving your loss. Our birthday’s are special, a little bit different than most. You were 24 hours older than me. Your birthday is today, mine’s tomorrow. We were born in the same year, in the same hospital.

You used to love to tell the story that you saw me in the nursery and said “One day I’m going to marry that girl!”…..and you did 19 years later ❤️. And there were times I got tired of hearing that story but damn I wish I could hear it again. Just one more time. Just to hear your voice and hear you speak those words. Oh this has been so hard Hank 💔. I didn’t expect this and I know you didn’t either.

It’s so hard to figure out how to go on. What to do next. How to get through the long nights. How to stop missing you…..but yet I don’t want to stop.

We had 40 beautiful years together. A little bit more if you include our dating. We met first, besides the nursery, in middle school. I remember you, you sat behind me in math class and teased me & poked me as middle school boys do. You were good at math, I was not. And then later in high school we started dating our junior year, we were just 16.

It seems so long ago but yet not. We made a beautiful life together. It wasn’t always easy and sometimes it was really hard but that’s what marriage is. And we were committed to each other. We got married at 19, so young and not really knowing much about life yet. But we figured it out, together. We built a beautiful life and two beautiful children and have five gorgeous grandkids.

You loved nature, animals & gardening. You grew up on a farm and raised cattle. You learned how to grow gardens from both sets of grandparents. When we were first married you drove 30 minutes one way to tend a garden because we didn’t have room on our subdivision lot. We moved to more acres because your dream was to have your children appreciate land, animals & growing like you did. You accomplished that and we all are thankful for the love of the land you taught us.

Once our kids had moved out you stumbled on growing GIANT vegetables & fruits. Who would have thought that would ever happen? But it did and you loved it. You researched, experimented and succeeded in this new hobby. We met new friends all around the world through the GPC and new local ones at the State Fair of VA. You became a champion grower!

You loved to see new places but you were a terrible traveler….and you admitted it 🤪. We visited lots of places on the East Coast within driving distance over the years. I even got you to Germany once but you swore you’d never fly that far again!! But I’m so grateful you went to the Grand Tetons NP in Wyoming with me last year. I knew you’d love it once we got through the flight. And you did. You, Connie & I had the best week exploring the park together. We took long hikes, saw glacier lakes, the waterfall, double rainbows, elk, moose & the matriarch of the park…..399 and her cub!! I loved GTNP before this trip but now it holds some of my best memories ❤️

I’d do it all over again. And now I’m just trying to remember it all because I don’t want to forget. We won’t forget you. I just can’t believe I’m here and that I’m saying these words and that you’re gone.

Happy Birthday Sweetheart. I love you now and forever!

**I share these posts not looking for sympathy or pity. Though I gratefully accept all prayers as I navigate this new path. There are so many in this world that are suffering and we all need prayer. I truly appreciate all the love & support I have received since Hank died. But sometimes my head is swimming with thoughts that I can’t think straight. If I don’t get them “out” I feel I’ll drown. Writing it down helps me to make a little sense of what I’m thinking & feeling and, God willing, someone will find comfort in my words as I have found comfort and a little peace in writing them**