Happy Birthday, Pap

Today is my pap's birthday. Do you think they have birthday parties in heaven? Probably not. I'm sure those things don't matter once you're there.

Let's be honest. Sometimes it's hard to remember all of our relatives' birthdays. But my pap's birthday was easy to remember. His parents named him Stanley Lincoln Focht for a reason - he was born on Lincoln's birthday!

Families don't usually gather for everyone's birthdays, for whatever reason. But we always celebrated my pap's birthday. We celebrated not only because he was the family patriarch, but also because, as he got older, everyone was thinking, "Will this be his last birthday?"

It was always one of my dreams and prayers that my grandparents would meet my kids. I have pictures of myself with some great-grandparents, and, even though I barely remember them, those are precious memories. I'm so glad that Pap got to meet Isaiah. They just loved each other. It makes me sad that he didn't get to meet my niece Abigail or Samuel (and any more to come - from Matt and Katherine's side, or eventually Jonathan's, not ours!)

So here are some memories:

This picture and the one below are from Pap's birthday last year, his last birthday here with us.