Last week my sister and I lost our father unexpectedly.......We'd only started to get to know him the past few years and to be honest, my sis was much closer to him than I was so while this is difficult for me it is going to be much more so for her, my brother-in-law and my niece and nephew.
Mike was a flawed man (and aren't we all flawed?) but he had gone above and beyond to repair and mend the relationships that had been broken so long ago. I truly regret that I didn't try to spend more time with him but I thought since he was only in his mid 60s that we'd have much longer. Unfortunately that was not the case.
One of his wonderful sisters wrote this poem about him a few years ago and I hope that my aunt doesn't mind me posting it here but it so captured the essence of our father that I can't not put it up.
Michael
The shell of Michael, the man
lay at the great gates of Heaven.
God looked inside to judge his soul,
and found it battered and tattered, not whole.
He called his angels for a "Bee".
They seamed and patched without a fee.
In this crazy quilt of life,
They found a multitude of strife.
But 'neath the folds, hidden from view,
they also found his love for you.
Michael followed God's rule, LOVE ONE ANOTHER, so well,
that he often came close to the edge of hell.
For his was a fragile soul, not strong,
and when hurt, sought solace where wrong.
But he always came back from that pit of black rain,
battered, tattered, willing to try again.
For this, God chose him to live in the Light,
Michael, God's Angel full of might!
written by Jan B.
Michael "Mike" H.
April 1945 - May 2011
