Day Four Hundred and Seventeen

The king Meets His King

At the age of 25, I never thought I'd be writing anything like this.

We had plans. Big ones. Dad was going to begin throwing the ball again. He wanted to pitch for his old fast ball team. He was already hitting golf balls and considered possibly getting back in to bowling too. We had a Spring Training trip planned for March. He was going to come down and hang out for the week in Baseball heaven.

So many plans. 

So much to do.

Yesterday, my Daddy passed away.

I screamed. I cried. It wasn't real. It isn't real. He couldn't be gone. He can't be gone. 

It's only been a month since Dad moved back to Spokane to be with his family. Finally, together again. After so many years. It was a new start. An exciting start. And everything was going so well. 

My Dad was happy. Well, he was always happy. Ask anyone who knew him, and they'd tell you that that smile never left his face. Except when you tried to feed him vegetables. Or when the Mariners sucked. His last comment on my blog said that he was doing great. And I believed him. The next day, he died. Peacefully. Taking a nap.

My dad fought cancer for 12 years. He battled and clawed his way through countless rounds of chemo and radiation, pokes and prods. In his suffering, he found ways - so many ways - to inspire hope. He was courageous, even in the face of death. He was sturdy, defeating all the odds. I heard him only once, tell me that he was tired. Gosh, Dad. How were you so strong? For so long? I admire him more than anything for that strength.

It's hard to say, but I think my dad was ready. He was ready to go Home. Actually, I know he was. He'd been strong for so long, but he found a different Strength right before he left this world. 

On Tuesday, Dad received in the mail, Saturday Nothing, a book written by Josh Martin. The same friend and pastor who married Adam and I. Dad read the entire book in one sitting. After finishing the story - a story all about Jesus - Dad wrote a review of it on Amazon:

"I must say first off that I am not a biblical scholar! But Josh's approach in this book makes it very easy to understand and I thank him for that. A very poingant story that hits on all levels. I am proud to say I am a prodigal son!"

My hope lies in the 10 words of his last sentence. Maybe just the last 5 words. Dad returned to the loving arms of Jesus before he died. And Jesus ran to meet him. Forgiven. 

On  Wednesday, October 31, 2012, John Mays III, My Daddy, My Friend, My Coach, and My Hero, passed away. I find hope and peace in the words Dad wrote just one day earlier. He's in Heaven now. He's Home. He's spending eternity with His Father. God, I am so thankful You waited for him.

I want to thank everyone, on behalf of myself and my family, for all the prayers, encouragement, condolences, and stories that you've poured out over my Dad and our family. He was, and is, loved by so many, and one measly blog post could never encompass the man he was or the words I could speak of him. For my memory, his, and our friends and family, here are some things you had to say:

"Your dad is, was, and always will be an inspiration to anybody that had the privilege of knowing him"

"Jake Kenzie Ellie Shelby Morgy Porgy, your dad will be remembered as an inspiration of stregnth and courage as well as compassion... Lolly I hope you can call on his stregnth right now! none of you ever forget how many hearts that mans memory lives in! I only hope the pride of such a legacy helps some of the pain..."

"Johnie Mays, this is heart breaking news. You were and always will be an influential father figure in my life. I remember when you first got sick and how I cried and cried and you comforted ME. Even all these years later, I think of little things you taught me, like how it really doesn’t take any longer to walk around than to cut across the grass. Or how on the road I might think I can’t possibly hold it any longer, but sure enough, I can. I think of the bigger things too, like your strength of character, and your capacity for forgiveness. I think of you all the time, and that won’t stop now."

"A long time survivor of brain cancer won an eternal, cancer free life with Jesus yesterday. Please keep his family in your prayers as I know he will be terribly missed by so many. I met Johnie through a survivors page a couple of years ago and he is one brave, grateful soul! RIP Johnie... I look forward to the day we will be able to meet in person! "

"i love you so much. you will be missed more than you will ever know. always a smile or a joke to crack and i will miss every moment of it. you were such a fighter, and you will always be a hero to me. you taught me that no matter what the doctors say, no matter what they tell you, that you can fight through it. one of the strongest people i know, and you fought that horrible disease for years. i love you."

"Johnie was the first person to reach out to me as a friend when I moved to Kirkland in the 8th Grade, and that outgoing and friendly spirit lives on. Wish there were more like you, Johnie."

"The world lost a great man and one of my heroes tonight. He was the best baseball coach many of us have ever had and the strongest and most dedicated person I have ever met. You'll be missed by many coach."

"The Hard Rock pin collecting community and the world have lost one of the good guys today. Rest in peace, my friend. I hope I will see you again someday."

" I came to know Johnie through the Seattle HRc pin club.I am proud to call him my friend. A finer one I could not find. I will miss you, I love you my friend. You will leave a void in my life no one else can fill. You brought laughter , to our meetings, you brought yourself, I could not wait to see you and always saved you a placed next to Ernie and me. My neices ,loved you too."

"He was so courageous and positive throughout his fight with cancer. My heart goes out to you and his chiildren. I went to high school with Johnie, and I have enjoyed his FB posts and pictures about his family. Such a proud and loving father, such a kind soul. What an amazing family and bond he had with all of you. As a 2yr breast cancer survivor, and being in the midst of a 5yr anti-cancer drug therapy, he was a real inspiration to me on keeping positive and appreciating life despite cancer treatment. I will miss his ray of light"

"There is no greater title one can be bestowed than that of one who is the embodiment of true courage and inspiration. I can think of no one who deserves that than Johnie! I have had the pleasure of knowing him in our youth, and watching him become a father of children who he had no greater proud of."

"Johnie, you fought a great fight. Im sad to see someone go so early. Now its your time to hangout with the baseball gods and watch over your close ones. My Prayers go out to all of his family. Johnie, go play the game you love forever."

Thank you.

I love you sweet Daddy.
You'll always be the king of the castle. 
And I'll always be your dirty rascal.

Gosh, I miss you already.

Day Three Hundred and Thirty-Two

The Carry-On

Adam left on a 6-day road trip this morning back to the West side of Florida. Fort Myers for 3 games and then North to Port Charlotte for another 3 games. Luckily, this is one of the last away trips he'll take! Wahoo! Then it's home for the last two weeks of the season!! Over the course of 4 1/2 months of traveling, he's proven quite practiced in his suitcase packing abilities. In that little, itty bitty, teeny weenie carry-on, he managed to fit 4 pairs of dress shorts, 7 collared shirts, 7 pairs of undies, 5 pairs of socks, one belt, 3 workout shirts, 2 workout shorts, and one pair of shoes. Excuse me? And he actually had the audacity to tell me that he thought he overpacked! Oh please! If any girl, in her most honest attempt, could fit 6 days of clothes into that carry-on, I'd give her a prize. Oh, and in his backpack: his Bible, journal, iPad, book, headphones, deodorant, toothbrush, hair brush, toothpaste, and loose change. Tomorrow, I'll bring the shampoo and conditioner...because we all know that his long hair needs it.

And off he goes! I hate watching him turn his back to me and leave. It breaks my little heart in two. But usually, I get a turn-around wink or shouted "I love you," which makes the goodbye a little easier. But I don't know if it'll ever just get plain ol' easy. Even if I do get to see him the next day! Hey, that one night alone (tonight) really stinks! I hate sleeping by myself! But at least I have the comfort of our apartment to snuggle up in...he just has his favorite pillow. Poor boy. 

I did a lot on my computer today. I have a lot to plan, make, and purchase in the next month or so, and today was dedicated to just that. Our one-year anniversary is coming up here quickly and I want it to be PERFECT!!! So many ideas! I did manage to fit in a 15 mile bike ride, pool time, and a trip to the store for shampoo and conditioner. Other than that...all computer work. And while I was searching through photos and ideas, I found this. And a HUGE grin crossed my face. Our Save the Dates! "We're Getting Married!" Ah! And so many other special details he inserted! Good work Mr. Conley! I'm still crazy about them! (And you, too.) 

And then I stumbled across this too! Our wedding invitation we sent out over a year ago! And ALL crafted by my creative husband! The entirety of our invite was made solely by Adam, with a few suggestions piped in by Yours Truly. On the left: the front of the invite. On the right: the back. The two sides were printed on one piece of card stock, made to look like a ticket! The bottom was even perforated, just like the real thing! Our guests tore off the RSVP piece and sent it back to us. Gosh, he's such a genius! 

And finally, I found our "Thank Yous." Love, love, love them! And I absolutely loved looking through the memories of just a year ago, before I was Mrs. Kendall Conley. 

Day One Hundred and One

The Finished Product

Adam told me today that he's never going to get married again. I contemplated his statement for a brief period, and when the scowl on my face borderlined permanent, he continued, "Because I never again want to go through the process of sending out thank you notes." Isn't he sweet...? I'll agree, the slow pace of personalizing almost one hundred thank yous wasn't an easy one. The sharpies smeared, the cards curved, and sometimes the words eluded our pens. Brevity is not our strong suit, so cramming every bit of gratitude onto a small photo was an unexpected difficulty. But I really enjoyed it. Adam, well apparently, he'd beg to differ. I think his frustration was met by his left hand. He had to use a "normal" pen because every time he tried to use the sharpie, the words he'd write ended up on his hand, instead of the paper. Ever look at the paw of a lefty after they've completed an essay in pen? Yeah, it's a mess. But now they're finally done, and my sweet husband won't ever have to write another thank you note again...

Until the baby shower :)

And speaking of babies...I'm...

Not pregnant. Haha. Gotchya. But today, we did meet a family of FIFTEEN at Chipotle. Nine girls and four boys. Maybe we'll have thirteen kids too...just so I can torment Adam with thank you cards ;)

(Note: the address in the photo is fudged)

Day Eighty-Six

The Batdorf Letters

Batdorf & Bronson is our favorite coffee shop. Ever. And Florida coffee pales in comparison. So, a trip to the local Olympia hangout was a must for us. We sprawled out across the giant table and began the thank-you-card process. And had so much fun! I started to miss this place more than I thought I would. The trees, the smells, the people, the colors. All so beautiful. But I soon realized that my toes were numb, my nose was dripping, and gas prices, well, they're just ridiculous. I guess 77 degrees matched with bad coffee and $3.21 Unleaded isn't so bad after all :) We later met Nate (one of Adam's groomsmen) at St. Martin's for a frosty toss of the ol' pill and finished off the night with a bottle of leftover wedding drink and some infamous Olympia High School story telling. Together, Adam and I paired up to create a perfect depiction of marriage for Nate, and I think given the right girl, Nate might just follow in our footsteps in a couple years. He just needs to learn this as a man:

You're either right, or you're happy.

Day Eighty-Two

The Thank You Malfunction

So, Adam and I are a bit behind on sending out our thank you cards. On accident. In the midst of marrying, moving, furnishing, growing, spending, learning, and all the other -ings imaginable, we've managed to gloss over the upmost appreciation we owe to our friends. Not our best move. In a sudden panic after realizing this last night, I went into survival mode. I tossed and turned in my attempts to fall asleep, but was unsuccessful. Fearing that our closest friends and family would harbor some sort of ill will towards us, I designed a Conley thank you card in my head before finally falling asleep. I managed a quick sigh before dozing off. Feeling confident in my ideas, I woke up ready to meet the challenge. Did today turn out as I had imagined? Of course not. By now, I had envisioned the two of us giggling over wedding memories, sipping coffee, and jamming out to our favorite Chris Tomlin songs. Well, let's just say, there was no giggling, no sipping, and certainly no jamming. I instead turned into Scary Kendall the Grump, who's frustration tipped the scales. (Turns out that the "Mays Girl" gene has still got ahold of me). With foggy ideas reminiscing from the night before, I spent the day creating the perfect thank you photos to send out. And we LOVE them. The problems, of course, were seen only at the end of the day, once we went to get them printed. The Instant Prints at Wal-Mart are more expensive, but they're printed immediately. And I'm ok with that. But the machine wasn't. After waiting half and hour for 2 prints, we receive notice that the printer was actually broken. Oh, wonderful. We could have handed them to One-Hour Photo, spent 30 more minutes there, and walked away with our 60 prints. Instead, I managed a smile and stomped quietly out of the store. Well, Plan A was to go to Walgreens anyways, so that's where we headed. All the way across town. After a few minutes, my pretend smile slowly morphed itself into a real-life scowl. Not good. I asked if I could print off some "practice" prints to compare the difference between "matte" and "glossy." I want these to be perfect, and the man kindly printed them off. When they came out, I was horrified. The work I had done to the photo was completely cropped out. And furthermore, the print had blurred so badly that I immediately panicked. Did our photographer really send us photos that we're not able to use? I was in a nightmare. And I was hungry. Again, not good. When we got home, I loaded the "official wedding" disc, opened the photo and was relieved to see that it was me that had made a mistake in my upload. Nightmare over. The photographs we had done are more than capable of being printed as 4x6s. The only problem now? I had to start all the way over. With the new photo. Well, tomorrow should be much better. We'll get our prints and start the "giggling, sipping, jamming" process that I had originally planned. Hopefully this time, I'm right. 

(I don't know how he manages me, but Adam is amazing.)

Day One

The CONLEYS!

Upon walking into our room at Hotel 1000, we were greeted with this most perfect welcome! I never thought I'd be so giddy over such a presentation! I love sharing Adam's last name. I am such a thankful woman.