Sundays journey

250 miles round trip to Cashmere....My travels had a purpose....A memorial service for John Foucht who would be 70 years of age today...Sadly his wife will have to know he will have his birthday with the angels in heaven.

John had lived as most of us could only hope to live, with honor , truth and character..I saw the friends who loved him' old men, who had known him for 60 years reduced to tears as Amazing Grace was sung by a delightful woman who had met John at her first job...

The diverse people who came to rally around his wife Nancy, who watched her strong man slip away in front of her day by day for the last year and a half. Who to the very end stood as strong as he had along their years..Far shorter that they each had planned.

My hubby and I had stopped by six days prior to John losing his battle...He, to the very end had the ability to laugh at the stories shared. John showed us his paper targets from the week before...Ill as he was his shot was right on, proud as ever about how he was still strong and capable both left knowing that it would be the last time we would see him...Our drive was quiet as our hearts stood still for knowing what was ahead....The strongest straight shooter you could ever hope to know...Now a frail man who could look you in the eye and say good-bye, he too knowing that he'd be leaving soon. I can only imagine the heart ache he would feel leaving his wife , yet knowing this woman he loved so much would "cowgirl up" and would have the ability and courage to run their farm with all that she could.

I have been to many a service in my life, but frankly no other has touched my heart nearly as much as this one.

My hubby stood and spoke about the man he so admired and respected.. I think that may be the hardest words he had ever spoken in his life.

My tears streamed down my face while I drove over the mountain pass thinking how Nancy would go on..Missing her best friend and soul mate. These two made each other stronger day by day, barely married 7 years..Surely not long enough. I thought of the places and stories I had heard, looking back the two had more in those short years than many have in twenty... How she will miss daily moments that only a husband and wife know. The smallest things mean everything..Do not regard life as a given just a mere possibility.....

One can only hope that you will be lucky enough to ever know a man like this...I had not known him long enough and the impact he has made on my husband will remain with him as it will with all that had the honoring of knowing one strong, wise and good as this one man. I hope that today you might know a person like this, just one!!! How very lucky you will be , how better you would be for knowing a man like John Focht.....