My wonderful father-in-law Pearce passed away on Tuesday February 25th. It has been a very busy, emotional, peaceful, happy, grateful week. Pearce has been struggling with Alzheimer’s for 8 years. It is a cruel disease. We have missed being able to talk with him and have him be able to talk back. Before Alzheimer’s he was always ready to share stories and knowledge. He has always been a very active person, very athletic. He skied any chance he got. He loved tennis, racquetball, golf, really any sport. My darlin would go for bike rides with him, he would forget how to shift his bike. Shortly after that they had to quit going, my sweetie was worried he might forget to stop for traffic and get hurt. It has been an adventure and a trial.

Now about the “Famous long cuts”. All of Pearce’s children have at least one memory of him taking them on a “long cut”. Of course a “long cut” is the opposite of a “short cut”. Whether it was in the car or hiking or something else, he would say, “Let’s go this way.” It would end up taking much longer to get where they were going than if they had just gone the original route, but it was always an adventure and the family had fun together.

We decided that him having Alzheimer’s and having his passing to the other side of the veil take 8 years is his last “Famous long cut”. It has taken way too long. We have missed him for years, even though he has been close by. My darlin used to always say, “It’s ok, cause at least I get to hug him still.” Very true.

He is now at peace. I believe, we all believe, he is in the world of spirits with other family members who have passed also. His parents, grandparents, a sweet baby daughter born too early. We know he is happy and we know we will see him again.

He lived a good life and has graduated to heaven. Yes, we’re sad sometimes, but we choose to celebrate his life and his moving on to better things. Graduating. His example and life will always be a part of us. I am so grateful to have known him. He raised my sweet husband and taught him to be the kind of man he is. He taught him that there wasn’t anything in this world that he couldn’t do, and that he was a “trooper.”