Blog

By Donny Parrish

How can you thank the Lord for giving you amazing parents?

Over the past few days following the passing of my Dad, I’ve had the chance to sit back and access how life is going to change now that both of them are gone.

The many trips that have been taken to Baton Rouge in the last 40 plus years will feel a lot different. Mom and Dad won’t be sitting up late at night waiting for us to arrive. There will be no assessing the chance of victory for the Tigers in the next game. And my nightly call home to talk to “Big Jim” is no more. The next time that there is that big life decision to make there’ll not be that wise counsel from Dad.

Life is going to be different. It already feels very different.

But there is a bittersweet joy in the memories. The pain of the loss is lessened by the great memories of two lives that were well-lived, two lives that were so intertwined that one had a difficult time living without the other, had a very difficult time knowing joy. There are memories of Mom being in the middle of all our play time when my brother and I were small, and of Dad playing catcher with two boys were alternating playing pitcher almost every night until it was too dark to see. There were so many great meals shared at a small dining room table in a tiny house on Harrison Street in Baker, Louisiana. And there were lots of ballgames watched, many plays dissected and many more played.

Our family was their life. And they lived it well.

So, goodbye Mom and Dad. You were the best. The absolute best. I’m glad that God impressed that on me many years ago and I was able to tell you that. I’m glad that there was never a day that passed that I didn’t know that you loved me.

And I hope that you knew that I loved you, too.