Sorry it has been such a long time since I’ve written. It seems that once I got out of the daily habit, I stopped writing altogether. At some point I also had to get back to my family and career because daily blog posts took a lot of time.
Left – A shot of David opening a present at Christmas. He looks three and a half years old. That’s me (John) in the background, about one and half, and my sister (Cathryn) to the right (almost five years old).
It never ceases to amaze me about what a terrible thing it was that happened over the summer. I think about them every day and find myself comparing everything to them. For example, if I come across something that I wrote before July, I want to go back and tell myself, “Hey, this was a time when you could have dropped everything and gone to see them.” I really miss them and it still hasn’t sunk in – everything that has happened.
Sometimes, I would only see them twice a year, and definitely not at Christmas time. They were always on a trip. I think resorts offer steep discounts (for the holidays) and so David would always try to take advantage of that by taking a group or taking his family. Because they were always gone at Christmas, this has been a normal holiday, although Thanksgiving was hard.
I remember many years ago, when Luke was 6 and we were having Thanksgiving at my parents house. I wanted to do Luke a favor by helping serve him food, but he got mad at me and started crying, “I wanted to do it myself!” I tried to tell him that I was just being polite by helping him – he sort of bought it, but he still wanted to get his own food. He was very independent!
Do any of you have memories of the Houghton family to share?
John it is so good to see you post again, I have missed you and your sharing your memories. I have been feeling their presence all morning, telling me to get busy and do something, anything but being sad and listless. They were always such doers that time was wasted if you showed nothing completed at the end of a day. So as I think of them and remember, I am going to carefully get out my ladder and clean the pine needles out of my rain gutters, I will rest an watch an occassional Christmas movie to help occupy my mind and let Christmas eve in. As evening comes I will fix myself something nice and healthy to eat, and then take a warm bath and close my eyes and remember. Yes there are tears and there are smiles, my heart hurts and my mind is on constant replay of the years shared. Last night just after dark as I was coming in from outside I looked to the sky and saw the brightness of Venus, could it be the star of David I asked myself? I have always been fasinated with the brillance and mystery of this planet. It is a ruling planet in my life and I am reminded of the love that has come into my life. God has such mysterious ways of talking to us! If you get a chance over the next two nights, or any night you think of it, go out and spend a few minutes looking at the star and remember those special moments in your life and then send your message of love to all of those who are no longer with us here and especially David, DeDe, Luke and Ryan as we experience this first Christmas really without them. I believe you will get the blessing of feeling their presense and their love very stongly I hope to read more messages about your Christmas holidays, not only of the past but of the present and what you did to celebrate at this difficult time. Again, I wish each of you the blessing of Peace and Love! I hope to spend shared moments in 2012!
It is Christmas Morning and around me I know there is alot of hussle and bussle to get ready for a very special celebration. I sit here thinking about you and wondering what you are doing? I have holiday music on and every once in awhile one comes on that brings up my sorrow and loss! “All I want for Christmas is you”, “It’s a Blue Christmas without you”, all of those speak my feelings and then I think these are songs and during the past few months songs and music have been so calming and comforting to me, so though I shed tears, I am still thankful for these words that so accurately speak my thoughts. I feel the love of God and Christ so he is still there in my Christmas and I give thanks for the blessings in my life. God gave his son that the world would be saved, he gave me a daughter that lived her life for the betterment of the world and the love that she, David, Luke and Ryan shared with all of us will live on though they are gone. I heard one song that said that those that are gone miss us more than we do them, if this is true than I know that they are looking at us and reaching out to comfort us and assure us that everything will be alright. This day will pass and at the end of it I will have new memories of a day shared with love and experiences that though they can’t touch the pain, will help the healing and hopefully I will look to the New Year with a sense of promises yet to be fulfilled. So in faith and love I share this day with you all, and want to tell you I know how special you each are, not only to us the family, but to David, DeDe, Luke and Ryan! With Love and Hope, Linda
Memories of David and Dede and boys…where to start…
Even though it seemed like I knew them for a short time, it feels like we were so deeply connected in each others lives. From sharing work, wedding, baby shower, traveling or diving memories, I felt a genuine close, loving, heavenly relationship with Dede and David. They were truly Angels living among us. They were always there with a smile, mellow attitude and admirable professional manner. I feel so very blessed to have had the time and experience to learn from them. Which makes it so painful to imagine life without them. I think about them every day and even 6 months later, it still seems unreal and deeply tragic. I know they would want us to travel forth, as they did, and live this life full of adventure and fun memories.
My heart and love goes out to you Linda, John, Cathryn and family, may our newly developed closeness and caring for each other grow stronger as David and Dede would want. They are Angels looking down on us, guiding us to share our, and their, love with each other.
My memories are filled with stories of love!! xox
Ten days into 2012 and I am remembering 2011. I find myself less motivated to get up and do things I know need to be done, and I hear DeDe and David saying to me “Get up, Get with it, and live”. I am not in a depression though I still have many sad moments, I seem to be in at speed bump that I just can’t seem to get over. Someone told me it is like hybernation and that sounds good to me, I find myself watching movies about other peoples lives, and prefer the ones with happy endings. I share this with you all that are reading because many of you may be experiences some of this sameness. (or insaneness!) Also, wanted to share that the bench the boyscouts are dedicating to the family has been completed and is in place near the cantalope structures near the wharf in Santa Cruz and there will be a dedication ceremony in a few weeks. As soon as I know the date and time I will contact as many of you as I can, will post here on the blog and then ask that you share with those you know might want the information.
I did not make any New Years resolutions as I still depend alot on my faith each day, I do believe it will be a better year, and don’t even want to consider how it could be any worse than 2011. I cannot write off 2011 because there was much love, living and caring that has been shared and a believing in a wonderful family lost and never forgotten. Blessings to each of you and I hope to see you in this New Year!