Jack Cleveland Booth, Jr. 11/3/1953 - 10/26/2021

 Jack's Memorial is Saturday 10/30/2021 10:00 AM visiting, 11:00 AM Memorial and everyone is invited to eat after. 

Tees Chapel FWB. 6439 Brogden Rd, Smithfield NC 28577

Fast Times

 Things are moving so fast. These were taken less than a month apart. Jack has stopped talking. He will grunt some and sometimes you can kind of know what he means to say. I hope when I say I love you he is grunting it back to me. He rarely opens his eyes. I have been playing the Beatles for him today.  He always likes listening to the Beatles. Sometime he would play them while working out in his shop. He loves putzing out there. The dogs would enjoy some attention from him, like Mable here. I don't have any words to describe what I am feeling right now.

Glimmers of beauty

 One silver lining, I got to see these beautiful Girls. 

Winding Down

 I stayed with Jack at the SECU Hospice house last night. It's like getting lots of little naps as they come in every so often to check on him. He is in and out of it, more 'out' then in this morning, but his granddaughters came by the window to say goodbye this morning and he perked right up and said I love you to them. I hijacked the TV and the room and am showing him pictures all the time and he sometimes just stares at the screen and seems to recognize things. A picture came up of a trip we took to WV and I said "Do you remember that trip to WV" and he sat up a little straighter and said "I sure do, that was a fun trip we saw that bridge" I think he knows more of what is going on than I think. I was telling the nurse about something he did and he looked at me and said "what are you telling her that for?"  LOL. He has a nurse that comes in in the mornings and he calls her Sister and she calls him Brother another that he calls by name when she comes in. I took this selfie with him yesterday and he said "oh I don't look good enough for pictures".

I told everyone that we will have a visit at the window for anyone that wants to stop by between 2:00 & 2:30 today. I will try to get him moved over to the window so you can have short visits with him. I can open the windows and his room is right out front so easy enough to walk up and talk. The kids will come up to the window and hand me things I joke it is like having our own takeout window.  

Saturday Sadness

It is so crazy that this just started for us on the October 2nd, Just 21 days ago when Jack went into the hospital. Thank you all for all your love and prayers, I am convinced that is the only reason I am up and walking around today. It has been very difficult. (understatement of the year). 

I am sure most of you know that yesterday we had to move Jack to the hospice house. There was bleeding that just could not be controlled at home. What an ordeal getting him out of the house. 

I thought when we moved to this house 3 years ago that it would be easier to get in and out in an emergency (most of you remember the river house right?), but the little hallways and door placements made it impossible to get a stretcher in to the bedroom. They sent two girls in to move him and they had to call in reinforcements. I was thinking a couple of big burly guys would come in and lift him but instead 3 more women came in and got him out, sorry if I underestimated you girls. I should know better. It is kind of funny that I would think this way, I was always fighting my way into male dominated situations in the HVAC industry and being underestimated. Girl Power exists! God bless you ladies for what you do.

Jack is now in the SECU Hospice house in Smithfield, but here is the kicker. Only family visitors right now and only 4 people can visit in 24 hours and that includes me.  Only 2 allowed in the room at a time. Today Jeff, Savannah and Sammy are coming to see Jack. (son and granddaughters). The thing about family is I consider all our friends to be in our family and we love each of you. We have often talked about our love for you all. It is strange that facing the reality of this is so much easier because I know I can call on any of you and you would each be there for me if you can.

If a man say, I love God, and hateth his brother, he is a liar: for he that loveth not his brother whom he hath seen, how can he love God whom he hath not seen? ~ 1 John 4:20

If you have any hate, bitterness or resentment toward someone in this world you need to let it go. You can't be close to God with these negative things in your life. I had a preacher tell me one time that "You can forgive and still not forget". 

Then Peter came up and said to him, "Lord, how often shall my brother sin against me, and I forgive him? As many as seven times?" Jesus said to him, "I do not say to you seven times, but seventy times seven." - Matthew 18:21, 22. 

Let me look at the math here, 7x70 = 490 right? Seems like such a random number, have you ever had to forgive someone 490 times. I had a co-worker a long time ago that I had to forgive everyday for something it seemed. (and it's not your Tracy or you Cory either)LOL. I worked with them for less than a year so in this math 261 working days, subtract the holidays like 10 - 12 days I think. Wow if my math were to hold up here I only made it to about half of what Jesus said. Thanks for going down that rabbit hole with me.

Going to get a second cup of coffee and get cleaned up and head over to be by Jack's side as much as I can while I can. If you know me I hate to cry, but now I walk around with a crying headache all the time. There is something about tears in the bible I will have to look that up again.

God bless you and thanks to all of you for the food, flowers and friendship. Love you and I forgive you, only 489 more to go. (LOL I had to end it on a happier note) 💖

Friday

Jack has continuous bleeding now & is beyond home care they are coming to take him to the SECU hospice house to manage the bleeding. Leaving within an the hour.

Nothing Fancy

 Just the recent news. Jack probably had a little stroke late last night, His face drew up and he was slurring his speech. He recovered pretty quickly. and is very tired today. He has been in bed all day. He has a lot of pain today asking for pain meds often. 

Hard Times

 Monday was a bad day, Jack's pain has been pretty bad. Trying to manage it with medicine. We went to bed entirely too late last night both of us were a little grumpy. Also we were up in the middle of the night last night for an hour or so. His Sister Donna and her husband visited yesterday. Thank you for the Smithfields. It is strange, Jack really likes the shrimp from there and I don't remember him ever eating it before. I'm pleased when he eats anything. I try to remember God created good days and bad days alike. the bad ones should make us rely on him more and he will help us get thru it. 

I think this is what the Bible means in Ecclesiastes 7:14 - "In the day of prosperity be joyful, but in the day of adversity consider: God also hath set the one over against the other, to the end that man should find nothing after him."

If you know of a Bible verse that helps you maybe you can post it in the comments.

LOVE

“As for husbands, love your wives just like Christ loved the church and gave himself for her.” - Ephesians 5:25

This verse popped up today. Jack and I had a moment of irritation at each other yesterday morning (I love a good spat, seems the best time to communicate what happened to you at that moment, after a spat make sure you tell each other what you felt at that moment, apologize and move on like it didn't happen). When I read this verse it makes me think of Jack, He has fulfilled this better than most men. If they say anything about him it will be that he Loved Dawnna. He has never had any problem telling me or showing me. He often says his biggest regret is leaving me. 

It seems to me that we don't have enough ways to describe how we love. We pretty much have the same word for loving pizza, loving our children, loving our friends or loving a haircut. We decide what a person means by the item they say they love. In ancient greek there are 8 types of love:

Philia (deep friendship)
Ludus (playful love)
Agape (love for everyone)
Pragma (longstanding love)
Philautia (love of the self)
Storge (family love)
Mania (obsessive love)

Eros (sexual passion)

The ancient Greeks were way ahead of us in the way they talked about love. Are english speakers just lazy and refer to all these types of love in one word? Does using the same word for pizza and our children tarnish the meaning of the other? I don't know. 

I think I have experienced all of these types of love at some point or another, but in the past week the love we have felt from all of you has made all the difference in how well we are handling this impossible time in our lives. Take time to think about who you love and tell them today. God tells us everyday if we are still and listen for it. John 3:16 & 17

We had a great visit with Jack's sister Phyllis and her husband yesterday. They are so much fun to talk to. Phyllis always makes me laugh, I "love" having Donna and Phyllis as my sisters. No offence Marla,  Love you the mostest, number 1 sister. LOL

We also enjoyed spending time with our son Jeff, who came for a few hours on Saturday and and stayed the weekend. Jack wanted to sit next to his son. (I sprayed the couch with Lysol when he got up, no offence Jeff) Love you!

Love you all...

Eating it up

 It has been so hard to get Jack to eat anything, he might eat a bite and that is it. He says things just don't taste good to him, but once in a while something will hit his taste buds just right and he will eat. It is like God knows and sends someone with what he will eat. Some of those things include fruit from a kind neighbor. Some soups that went down well. A turkey dinner. A hotdog done just the way he likes it, chili, cheese, mustard and coleslaw.  A perfectly cooked piece of fish (I have to take his word for that, I don't eat fish) and many other foods sent with love. For some reason I love taking a picture of him when he really enjoys something. He can go a whole day without eating, I guess it just tickles me so when he does eat.

I am a firm believer that eating together makes us closer to being family. In the bible one of Jesus's last acts was to eat with His disciples. You can ask any of our kids and grandkids that the best part of being together is eating together. It is a time to share stories, memories, plans, hopes and dreams.

One version of the bible that is loosely translated says "because God's gift to us is the happiness we get from our food and drink and from the work we do." Ecclesiastes 3:13 speaks to my heart this morning as I sit hear early in the morning listening to the rhythmic sound of the oxygen machine in the bedroom. For some reason I really like that sound. Weird right? My hope today is to get him up and to get him to drink a little more and of course to enjoy some food with him.

Jeff is on his way down to see his dad today. I really hope they have some quality time. Everyone feels there is so much to say, but in reality it is sharing the room with someone that is important. sitting there together sharing some of your valuable time.

Thank you to all of our family out there (I like to think of friends as family we get to pick) that have taken such good care of us. And thank you for the prayers. It really does help make our days better to feel such love from all of you.

Fever Friday

 Jack went to bed with a fever last night of 102, was down to 101 this morning. He says he feels okay, but he seems to get a little weaker each day. Although I turned around this morning and he was on the couch. He forgot his walker by the bed, so he must be pretty stable or he would have noticed it on his way in. He seems sharper mentally than he has been in years, remembers things I don't know. Names people I have forgotten about or reminds me of something just a few days ago. I on the other hand am forgetting things. I think more and more about the hereafter.  I walk into a room and think to myself what am I here after?

 According to Mark 1:29 to 33 and Matthew 8:14-15, the mother-in-law of Simon Peter "lay sick" with a febrile illness [1]. When Jesus took her by the hand and lifted her up, the fever immediately left.

Patriotic Thursday

Jude 1:24-25 - Now unto him that is able to keep you from falling, and to present you faultless before the presence of his glory with exceeding joy, To the only wise God our Saviour, be glory and majesty, dominion and power, both now and ever. Amen.

I saw this verse come up yesterday on my daily verse and it bolstered my confidence as more symptoms show up. Praising God will always lead to good things in your life. Can you imagine someone loves us that much.

There are special people in this world that do things for others that brings so much joy into the world. Hospice has a group of veterans that go out and honor those that have served their county. Jack received this honor today. It was such a lovely ceremony. They presented him with a certificate, a US Flag and Marine Flag lapel pin, and a lovely knitted prayer shawl. A lot of our neighbors and friends came out to the house to participate. They sang songs to him and saluted him, it was a very special event for Jack. I think they brought a tear to an old Marine's eye.

Jack served during the Vietnam war with the US Marine Corp 1970 - 1974 and participated in the US Coast Guard Auxiliary, the only branch of the military that allows civilian participations. He flew many missions over the coast of NC helping scout testing areas for bombing ranges and also looking for unusual traffic off the coast.



I will try to get the video uploaded to Youtube soon. They even had a Marine that must have been a drill sergeant, he had the voice for it. They sang God Bless America and the Marine Corp Hymn. Wow I am in all of what they are doing for our veterans. I hope God blesses them with love and peace for their service to the veteran hospice patients.

Is it wednesday already?

 Its 10:00 am and Jack has not gotten up yet. I have checked on him several times and he just says he is not ready to get up yet. Yesterday he talked a lot about how things are losing importance to him. Over the weekend he was all about trying to get help to finish projects he has going. Yesterday it just didn't' seem important to him. He says he is at peace and wants to spend time with the Lord today. 

I found about this recently. If you have not seen Denzel Washington's videos you should take a look.

I really had no idea these existed till Jack showed them to me the other day. I have not gotten to watch all of them yet, but will find some time to do that.

The Hospice Social Worker came out yesterday and today the Hospice Nurse will stop by. They have brought so many things to read it is hard to look at some of it. 

They are arranging some travel oxygen and a travel wheelchair so that we can go up to the lake house for a couple hours, (I wonder inside if this will be the last time he sees it). I want to get the grass mowed and the a few end of season things that need doing. I will worry about selling it later on. It has always been our spot to hang out and I don't see myself up there without him.

I keep thinking to myself that I should fancy this website up a bit, after all that is what I do for a living, yet the plainness of it feels right to me somehow. 

Hospice has arranged a for a group of veterans to come and do a little ceremony honoring Jack's service to his country if anyone wants to stop by the house, it is tomorrow 10/13/2021 at 1:00. I will get Jack out on the front porch for it and hang his Marine Corp flag up.  I will take lots of pictures and video if I remember. 

Every morning I get up and think This is the day the Lord has made, We will Rejoice and be Glad in it Psalm 118:24

Thank you for lending your skills

 

Trisha your artistic talent always amaze me. Thank you for making this sign for me, it has been very helpful allowing resting time 

Graduating to Heaven

We have been discussing what it means to go to heaven and Jack said he was going to be graduating to heaven. It made me think about the accomplishments of the last 11 years, since he was given six months to live with lung and brain cancer, strokes, seizures, skin cancer, last year prostrate cancer and now cancer for the 5th time Leukemia LMA.  With all the wonderful ways he (we) have been able to serve God over the last 11 years because of his diagnoses. I really hope this time makes the most difference for all of you. 

There are several milestone graduations in our lives, we graduate from kindergarten first. We learn a bunch of stuff that doesn't really make sense to us at the time, but they are things we will carry with us forever, socialization skills, playing different games etc. then we graduate from elementary school with a whole new set of skills, learning the alphabet, numbers, reading and writing and how to play a recorder (do you remember those unsanitary instruments?) 😛 yuck.

Next comes middle school, then high school the big one. we get dressed up wear Gowns and Caps🎓 and say goodbye to our friends. It is a sad time, It is a fun time (maybe some gifts and parties), I'll never tell the crazy things we did and neither should you David and Sarah),  It is like a right of passage after all those tests, reports, ball games and new experiences. It is also a dangerous time, a time when we tend to step away from God. Some more than others. Then we go about figuring out our lives one step at a time, college, jobs, then careers, kids, entertainment and challenges (that's if we are lucky).

At some point we will face the final graduation, the one Jack was talking about. The one in which all of the previous things will be judged, like reading and writing was judged by your teachers God will look at what you have done with the one chance you had. Did you spend it wrapped up in what was important to you? Did you think of others first? How have you made other people's lives better? Have you read the text book he gave us? (the Bible). Have you tried to be like Him, emulated the Son He gave us? (not long ago I heard someone refer to the B.I.B.L.E as the Basic Instructions Before Leaving Earth) Have you read it or just let others read it to you? Have you studied it or dismissed it?

Jack will graduate to heaven soon and it is hard to think about for me. Not for him, but for me the one left here, the selfish one. He knows the Bible better than anyone I know. He has done all he can to help others. I have always thought that God wants the good ones to be with him and Jack is one of the good ones.

It is all foretold in Ecclesiastes 3 (it's not just a good song by The Byrds)

To everything there is a season,
and a time for every purpose under heaven:
a time to be born and a time to die,
a time to plant and a time to uproot,
a time to kill and a time to heal,
a time to break down and a time to build,
a time to weep and a time to laugh,
a time to mourn and a time to dance,
a time to cast away stones and a time to gather stones together,

a time to embrace and a time to refrain from embracing,
a time to search and a time to count as lost,
a time to keep and a time to discard,
a time to tear and a time to mend,
a time to be silent and a time to speak,
a time to love and a time to hate,
a time for war and a time for peace.

I pray it will be a good day for him. He had a small temperature last night when we went to bed. He is sleeping good right now. He has several visits scheduled for today and maybe a chocolate pie from Ms. Nellie Faye. (his favorite). He is losing his appetite and has a hard time drinking, he says even water doesn't taste right to him (and Coffee too, can you believe that? The preacher not liking Coffee anyone that knows him has carried him a cup of black coffee in the past). I am trying to get any food he likes to him before he won't eat any more. Harsh reality that he will lose all interest in food and drink at some point. All I can do right now is pray for a good day with Jack. Thank you for all of your prayers. ❤

New

Jacks fever is better this morning but is bleeding internally a little  and a little depressed. The nurse is on the way to see him.  He may have just overdone it a little being so excited to be home. Pray for us when you can. 

Mondays are for Mayhem

Jack had a good night sleep last night but I got up at 1:00 AM and couldn't go back till 3:30 AM. I just couldn't shut my mind down. So I pulled out my computer and made lists. LOL. We got to sleep in some this morning. Just got up around 9:00 can't remember when I last slept past 5:00 AM. Most of you know I am an early bird. It seems to be a beautiful day out side, if a little chilly. 

A friend of mine did me a favor and we started joking around and both Jack and I had some really good laughs. One of our goals during this time is to laugh as much as possible. If any of you have a funny story of Jack or me that you want to share please do. We should have a visit from the hospice nurse today, but Jack is moving around on his own better now than when he got home. Using the walker, but he keeps asking for a cane. 

Genesis 21:6 Sarah said, “God has brought me laughter, and everyone who hears about this will laugh with me.”

Please Pray...

 

Thank you all for the prayers the fever is down some as we go to bed. He is again watching that football game takes a long time when you take naps between quarters.

Sunday a God given day

 After a rough morning, Jack is up watching football now. Family & friends have been in and out all weekend. We are both a little exhausted. Lots of laughing together and relaxing. Tracy M. brought us some of the best Chicken soup last night. Jack ate a whole bowl. Yesterday was the most food and drink I have gotten into him and he has a little more energy. This morning we saw a good message about taking quiet time everyday to spend time with God. No TV, no radio or other distractions, just quiet time to listen to Him and His wants for us.

 Psalm 62:1 My soul rests quietly only when it looks to God; from him comes my deliverance.