Fond Memories and Having Strength to Make it Through

Carmon L. Conner (1906-1978)


Today marks the 31 anniversary of the death of my granpa Conner. As a senior in high school I had never experienced a family member passing away and it was definitely hard to except that this man that I looked up to and loved so much would never get to experience some of the wonderful occasions in my life that I hadn't experienced yet myself. My wedding, the birth of my children and many other significant milestones that I know he would have been extremely proud of. I have very few pictures of him but my memories of him are dressed in his battleship grey chinos, a grey shirt and usually always a cap on his head of some sort. When I was a little girl he would let me brush what hair he had), he would play house with me and bake the most wonderful cobbler's. He built almost every stick of wood furniture in my grandparent's home, always had a vegetable garden, and fruit trees that he treated like children, and had full body tatoos that we never even thought about but by today's generation would probably think that they were pretty cool. He was a lover of Elvis and American Bandstand, he loved a handful of cashews every evening after dinner. He smoked cigarettes (at least 2 packs a day, unfortunately) and the occasional cigar. He loved fast cars and always wanted a Mustang but settled for a Ford Comet stationwagon because he knew that my granma couldn't handle the "tang". He was a quiet man but yet his lack of words uttered alot. He lived through working the coal mines in West Virginia, World War II, and many years as a postal worker.

This past weekend my daughter-in-law lost her granma which brought back not only the deaths of several of my family members but just how precious our loved one's are in so many ways.

Everyone knows that death is inevitable for us all someday, some go much to young and other's live a life that started with the horse and buggy and ended at the internet age.

I know many people who have touched my life who are going through tremendous health problems and have been for some time and other's who have just learned there time could end soon. I know that no person truely knows how much time they have but I:

Take each day as it comes, live your lives to the full extent, don't put things off, and enjoy every snowflake, sunrise and everything this world has to offer.