When Paul and Claire first moved here before myself and Rachel, Paul would tell me on the phone about Clarie hanging out with the man next door named Bob. I of course thought, "What in the world are you doing letting my baby hang out in the garage next door with a man named Bob?" Little did I know how special he really would be to our children (and us).
Telling the girls wasn't easy, but they handled it better than me. Of course, Maggie has no idea what is going on, but she will miss his hugs! Whenever she would see him, she would make a beeline for him and just run up and grab his legs hugging him. She also would yell "Bob! Bob!" when she would see him outside.
When I told Rachel he was in the hospital because his heart was really sick, she told me "That's okay, I'll make him better. I'll make him a play-dough heart." When I then told her later that he had died, she just wanted to to know when he was coming home. I told her he wasn't, that he was in Heaven living with Jesus. She looked real sad and then looked up and smiled and said "Well, he's happy!" Of course he is.
Claire took it a bit harder. She has a really tender heart anyway, but she did pretty good. She told me she wanted to go to the funeral, and I was a little nervous at first, but she said, "Mama, I just want to see Bob one more time." So again, just before the viewing, I was explaining to her that it would be like Bob is sleeping in the box, but he won't wake up. I then told her he was watching her from heaven though and she said,"Maybe it'll rain Tootsie Rolls!" (his special treat for the girls). She didn't ever really breakdown until the actual service when they were just playing music and she asked why they were doing that and I said it was so people could think of all the good things about Bob and remember him. She started to name some of the things and that is finally what broke her down. She cried and her little sobs broke my heart.
Here are just a few of the things that made Bob special:
He loved to paint and set up a little station next to his desk with crayons and coloring books so the girls could "work" right next to him while he painted.
He played Hide and Go Seek in their house with them for as long as they wanted.
He bought a sippy cup to keep at their house so the girls could have chocolate milk - and not spill of course.
He tried buying different crackers and snacks until he found the ones the girls liked best.
He let them "drive" the lawn mower.
He let them hang out with him in his garden.
He always had 5 Tootsie Rolls in a dish next to his chair (2 each for Claire and Rachel and 1 for Maggie)
He let them "ride" the animal statues in their house.
He let them watch whatever they wanted on tv at his house, even if it interrupted his program.
He let them fall asleep on his lap.
He counted with them and did "math" with crackers.
He gave them all good hugs.
He told me which plants were weeds and identified all the plants growing around our house for me.
He kept me updated on the temperature and how much rainfall we got.
He came up with a signal - a white towel hanging out by the garage - to let me know when Rachel had snuck over there without telling me.
He loved our family.
We are still blessed to have his wonderful wife Esther next door who loves our girls and we love visiting her, but it just won't be quite the same.
I look out my kitchen window every day and look for Bob in his garden and then my eyes get a bit misty.
He loved our family.
We are still blessed to have his wonderful wife Esther next door who loves our girls and we love visiting her, but it just won't be quite the same.
I look out my kitchen window every day and look for Bob in his garden and then my eyes get a bit misty.
