A Great Loss

On July 25th my father in law passed away at 74 years old. He suffered long and hard for over a year. But now he is at peace. He was so many things to so many people. Proof of that could be clearly seen at the line of people (which went well out the door) paying their respects at the funeral home. Knowing him was like reading a book. At the age of 15 his sister "doctored" his birth certificate so he could join the Marine Corps Reserve. Which he did and not long after that he found himself in Korea. He was wounded twice and survived the battle of the Chosin Reservoir which earned him the name of the "Chosin Few". He was very proud of his military service, as he should have been. The saying "Once a Marine always a Marine" never rang so true as with him. He has a room filled with military memorabilia. When I took my soldiers over for Christmas one year he took them in there. He shared stories with them about his time in hell. They appreciated his wisdom and service.

After serving in the reserves, he came home to be the closest thing I've ever known to Forrest Gump! He bought him a shrimp boat and became a shrimp boat captain. He didn't have a friend named Bubba, his first mates name was Pork Chop. There wasn't much he didn't know about the river, the ocean and seafood.

Fast forward to today..we laid him to rest today. He had full military honors..21 gun salute, TAPS and bagpipe playing the Marine Corps Hymn . My husband has been very strong thru all of this..up until they were lowering his casket. Everyone else had left, except me my husband and my daughter. From a distance we watched them take the site down. First the chairs, then the tent..one thing after another. As they were getting things ready and putting the lid on the vault which held his remains..I heard the unmistakable cry of a red tailed hawk. He was an avid bird watcher and loved hawks. So I hear the cry and look over our heads and there's the majestic bird he spent so many hours watching. It swooped right over our heads. soaring and plunging with grace. I placed my hand on my husbands shoulder and said," Hey honey..there goes your dad. The hawk came down and has him now..he's soaring up in the sky over us now." He looked at me with tear filled eyes and said,"I hope so." The casket began to go down and as if on cue an Air Force jet flew over,then another..then the third. Just as the casket was out of our sight the third jet came over. My heart caught in my throat as I witnessed the most incredible coincidence of my life...as the casket settled the jet tipped his wings to the right and went straight up into the clear blue sky. None of this was planned and I couldn't believe what I just saw. I looked at my husband and asked," did you see that!!??" He was speechless and just shook his head yes. Then he said thank you. He said he was so lost in thought that he never would have noticed the hawk or the jets. He thanked me for pointing it out to him. I think he found great comfort in these incredible coincidences. I was so glad to be able to do that for him. RIP Sonny..may you always soar on the wings of your hawk