We are really missing our Mitch. It has been six very long weeks without him here, seven extremely hard weeks since we have seen him. On Sunday, September 9th, we rounded out our family weekend at our house. After Sean, Dad, Mitch, and Nate golfed, we had barbeque's at our house (one of Mitch's favorites). I had gotten both the boys ready for bedtime and before Mitch left, he spent sometime playing in the living room with Luke and Ben, a very frequent sight. Those three would wrestle around the living room, and lately had been playing with Luke's nerf gun that Uncle Mitch gave him for his 3rd birthday. Before he gave his hugs and headed out, he snapped a picture with each of the boys on his phone. I didn't realize he had done this, until after his accident, Kolbi was going through all of his pictures on his iphone and found these two pictures...
Getting goofy with Luke. You two had so much fun together doing pretty much whatever Luke insisted was the play of the day. So many times when Sean was out of town when Ben was a baby, Uncle Mitch would come over after work, eat dinner with us, and play with Luke while I tended to Ben as a baby. You always called him Uncle Mitz, until recently when you could say Mitch.
Ben and his Godfather Mitch...
Ben you are a lucky little boy to have such a very special "Angel Godfather"! He loved you more than anything and was so proud of you. He was awful protective of you and never wanted to see you cry.
He would always grab you from people saying "give me my godson"! I will never forget the day of your tube surgery he was so concerned for you all day, he stopped over right after he got off work with a Hawkeye sock monkey.
I am so thankful that Mitch took the time to take these two pictures that night. I am forever thankful for these. It breaks my heart to see these pictures knowing that this is the last time these two little boys would ever see their Uncle Mitch. I know right now Mitch would be laughing at all the funny things Ben is doing and Luke would be challenging him to many football games. These boys were so blessed to have met and loved Mitch as much as they do. It hurts to know that their time with Uncle Mitch was so short, yet we are so thankful for the amazing relationship both of these two little boys had with their Uncle. One day, when Luke & Ben look back on this blog, I hope that you both understand just how amazing of an Uncle he was to you and how much he loved you both. Mitch dropped anything to see you or to help with you. He truly loved spending every opportunity he had with you and that makes him the special guy he was.
Oh Tiff, what a gift to find these two pics on Mitch's phone. No matter how many words you write about Mitch, nor how many times you tell Luke & Ben how much Mitch loved them, these two pictures prove it. You know, a picture is worth a thousand words... One of his final acts was loving his two nephews, so much so that he had to record it. That and what also spoke so much to me was your dad telling me that after Mitch went home and ate pizza that day, he did Luke's sign for "all done". Little did anyone else know, he was truly all done and he used a clear gesture from his beloved nephew. I can't get that picture out of my mind. God so loves his little children, and Mitch stayed that child at heart. Someday that picture in everyone's mind won't be so sad, but warm our childlike hearts. Love to you, Linda
ReplyDeleteP.S. I read every entry in your blog and this is the first time I noticed I could comment on it, because you know I always have something to say! Duh.