Pops, Happy Bday...we miss you!
I was thinking about the time you took me to my first nuggets game and we got to take a Polaroid picture with one of the players...wow, that was so cool. Now I am taking my son to do the same thing tomorrow and in Vasquez style, courtside with team pics...thanks Pops for showing me how to do so much. Love you old man.
Dad thanks for being my father and being in there when I needed you also I enjoyed the times we had together watching movies and eating junk food till 1:00 in the morning, I early had a wonderful times we had also going to lake pal with mama and uncle ed and aunt Judy and the Lara family watching you water ski. Also I enjoyed roller skating, and going camping with you and the Vasquez family also enjoyed the Christmas and thanksgiving with you and the Vasquez family and birthdays daddy and family I will forever miss the times we had with you daddy I wish you we're still here with us. But I know your no longer suffering and hurting from Parkinson's your resting in piece with GOD and walking and talking and singing and dancing with out pain, I will always miss your good BBQ the hot dogs hamburgers and your turkey vegetables and yams pumpkin pie. I will always miss your cooking playing basketball playing pool also going out to eat and going to the movies eating popcorn drinking root beer with you and mama and Vasquez family. Love you daddy I miss you and wish you we're still here with us you are in our hearts always will be. Miss you love mouse!!!♡♡♡ Also Devin enjoyed spending time and helping you when you needed help your son in law misses you too.♡♡♡
Mi querido amor:
Today I celebrate my love for you. It's hard to believe it's been a year since you "got your wings to heaven." You and I shared our 43rd anniversary a few weeks ago at Mariana Butte...did you enjoy? I had my first birdie on the 10th hole...nice, huh?
This has been quite a year...gigantic struggles and challenges for all of us...much more emotionally draining than I ever imagined or anticipated it would be. Our last days together weren't quite what we had hoped for. So many times in our youth we talked about travel, golf with Ed and Judy. Unfortunately we were never able to realize those dreams...however, we did grow old together!!!
My heart is flooded by a multitude of beautiful memories with places, songs, things said, special people we knew. There's not a day that passes without my thinking of our lives together...what memories...the good and the ones we would probably choose to forget were you still here. We had a good, full life together and sometimes it is those memories that are the most difficult at times for me to overcome for they make me miss you all the more.
Life without you has been extremely difficult but life without you is the "new normal." Far too often the world is so empty without you. I've had to learn a lot of "new normals" and it has not been easy for any of us...we must choose to go forward as we gain the strength that only comes from Christ Himself.
There were far too many days when I would have to make a concerted effort to peel myself out of bed. Despair...it's a hopeless emotion and the devil will do anything he can to keep us there. BUT FOR GOD!!!
You were always my main advocate and support in life and now God has placed many loving, wonderful friends and familly in your stead and He gives me the strength to care for our children and grandchildren.
Our kids miss you terribly too. Your mouse talks about "her hero" at every turn...Chris wrote you a wonderful Father's Day love letter...hope you had a chance to read it. We shared so many beautiful memories with our kids and grandkids and families...we were blessed.
I miss your many magnificent qualities but most of all I think I miss your strength and support, your wisdom and courage. You were truly my "man of valor" in every sense of the word...so fearless, and I refuse to allow you to be defined by your last days of Parkinson's because the devil is the liar of all liars and only in God do we have the victory.
I know in my heart of hearts you are where you should be, mi amor...Face-to-Face with our Jesus, in all His Splendor and Glory, and I am anxious to join you. I know you will greet me with open arms and we will walk hand-in-hand, side-by-side together as we await our children and all our loved ones after us. Your cunado says "I only have one cunado forever" and you're it, baby, in more ways than one. I will forever miss you in my heart.
Te amo con todo mi corazon
Dad...today is June 29th, a full year has passed since God decided it was time for you to live in His presence. I like to think He needed a little organization in His master plan and needed you home to help Him accomplish that! My thoughts however do not come with some sadness in my heart with your absence and a flood of memories of the conversations and discussions that only a dad can communicate to their son. I miss so much about you that didn't have anything to do with your Parkinson's as you were so much more than that me. I have a strength about me that I like to think was an attribute that carried over from you that is serving me well in life as a Husband, Father and many other roles today. Sometime I feel like I only need to look into the mirror to see a reflection of you on those days I'm having a hard time with the battles of this life. It's at those times that I don't necessarily hear your voice, but see the look on your face that says "Get Up and Get Going" that this life will not hand you what you want...that you have to trust God and go fight for it. Well, dad, I want you to know I'm fighting a good fight and will not give up...it's not in us to do that...and I thank you for this example in your life. You left a great legacy in your sons, daughters and grandchildren. I pray God is able to tell you in person the revelation of my heart and how much you meant to me now and forever...DAD I miss you very much!
Dad, On this day I honor you and remember the amazing Father you have been in my life. It's been a difficult few days leading up to Father's Day this year knowing this is my fiirst Father's Day without you here to celebrate with. I know in my spirit you are in paradise and in the presence of our amazing God and that gives me comfort. The word of God tells us that to absence in the natural is to be present with the Father. It's the absence part in having to celebrate a day we set aside for you that is the most difficult, but I have pictures, video's and most imprtantly memories and that again brings comfort. I MISS YOU DAD AND WILL ALWAYS LOVE YOU...Happy Father's Day!
Today a friend came over to watch the Broncos and brought over some Hansens Soda.. I haven't seen Hansens since I was a kid at John and Gloria's.
John took me ice fishing once and we put a 6 pack of Hansens in the snow to keep it cold. It exploded an hour into fishing. IT WAS COLD!!
Right when my buddy handed me a soda, I thought of the story, smiled and went to my room to grab my John button and put it on my Bronco Jersey. I took a picture and sent it to my primos Johnny and Chris.
He was a good man and role model, and still pops in my mind on a regular basis.
I wanted a Dad just like you...
Will
From the very beginning, John and I enjoyed life and each other immensely. He was strong and courageous, all the way to the end. Fearlessness was one of his main attributes, even to a fault! I was safe with him and that was pretty comforting.
He was a strong believer in God and one of his favorite ways to love Him was through praise and worship. He would happily clap his hands in a "patty-cake-like" fashion and sing at the top of his lungs...it wasn't always so pretty but that didn't matter...it was a blessing anyhow!
I walked into his hospital room one day shortly after the DBS surgery a few years back, where he was sitting up in the recliner singing "I love You Lord and I lift my voice to worship You, oh my soul, rejoice. Take joy my King in what You hear, may it be a sweet, sweet sound in Your ear." He was totally unaware that I was there..it was beautiful. Agh, what a blessing to see my Man of Valor loving the Lord even in one of his toughest seasons of life.
Now he's rejoicing and happily singing praises to Jesus face-to-face, walking the streets of gold in perfect health. I can only imagine!
When I get there, you can bet I'll be looking up this magnificent, handsome man of God, along with all those we love and miss who have gone on before him. I like to think I'll be at his side once again some day. I so desperately miss him.
I love you, Baby, con todo mi corazon.
My Father always took the time to help instruct me in the way of how to best accomplish my goals thru Hard Work, Faith and in unwavering commitment to doing it the "Vasquez Way"...clean and with excellence!
He wasnt shy about giving you a little push, with a quick smack when you needed it too. I thank God for those little reminders, they have become the lingering qualities that I have come to admire and appreciate most. You see they have guided me now as I have become a father of my own son (Sebastian)...Even in his last breath on earth my "Old Man" taught me to be generious, faithful and with Godly values. He gave his only remaing earthly position, his body, to the furthering for a cure for Parkinson's study. What a Man!
Voy a extrañar mucho Pop's.
