James Irwin Driggs Sr.
My Daddy....
On October 12th, 2003.....My father went to His eternal home in heaven. It took a few months (and maybe I am still dealing) to realize that I am parent-less.
I would like this page to be a celebration of life. A page to look back upon, the moments they spent......raising me...but first, I have got to deal with the moments that transpired in the end....
My Mama & Daddy were everything that wonderful parents should be. Sure, they did not give me everything they promised (aka: snoopy snow cone machine, pool in the back yard etc) but Dad worked long and hard hours and my Mom......well Mom, was just there....all the time...anywhere and everywhere......she was there)
If I am going to start a page about my Dad...I'll have to start with the ending. Dad was a victim of Alzheimer's...Before Mom even passed away in 1997, he had the first warning signs. With Mom's death, it progressed. I didn't go see my Dad as much as I should of....but I was overcome with the things that were going on around me and even more so, the things that were going on in his very house. But no one else is to blame but myself. I made the choice, and emotions got in my way.
There was a once upon a time though....
A time that I was "Daddy's Babe".....Daddy's girl...and I forego those times for my own anger and resentment. And I have come to terms with the fact that those things were once again, my own problem. There is no one else to blame.
Dad slipped or glided into the progression of Alzheimer's.
He went for his daily trip to the bank and to the grocery......he was slowly (or very fast as memory serves) into the formal end stages of this awful disease. And then one day.....My Dad...he was no more......
He was just Jim
He knew his name...but he didn't know me anymore.
And the letting go started taking place.
He was under the supervision of my brother one day...and he strayed away. And we looked and we looked and we looked for him...then the sheriff was called...and they looked and looked...and the helicopters were called in and the scent dogs....and we all looked...and we were scared...but the letting-go had already taken place for most of us......
And he spent the night alone in the woods....while the remainder of us were resting.....
Yes, the letting-go had taken place.
Midway through the night, I woke up and looked at the vast farmlands behind my bedroom window...and realized he was out there somewhere...and I cried, I cried for the innocence that was being lost...I grieved for the man I loved...More so, then I grieved on 10/12/2003.
When he was found...he wasn't found at all....he was still lost.
And I prayed to God for a resolution.
It was a double brain stem stroke that finally took him....but he was gone long before that happened. And all my gratitude for the days/months/years prior has to go to my brother-in-law, Mike Bowers for being there for that. Because, out of the rest of us, we were not. It really doesn't matter the reasoning why we were not there...the fact remands...that we were not. Pride and Anger do not mean anything in the end.....It is in the one that he knows the name....and the only name Dad recalled in the end was Mike and his family. Mike...........He doesn't even have a "J" name....but he was the one there. And a lot needs to be said about him.
Mike was Dad's friend.
and that has to count for something.
So the final few minutes were upon us.......and it was my shift....and I heard the words "it is time" and I seen the events...but I didn't / or couldn't believe them. He released a breathe and the color was no more....and I said "He has no color" .........but this was a man that was stubborn as the wind. And I thought the breeze was still blowing....But in reality, the end was nigh... and the last release was coming....and I ran up the stairs...and yelled to Joy & Jay that it is time......and then went to Mike & Jill and said "it is time"....and I missed it...All but Jamie, Jim and Jeff....I think Joy caught the last breathe...but I was still running up to see if Jill & Mike was there.......He gave up the ghost...and then the rejoicing began in Heaven...and I am sure, he looked down upon us, and smiled. Cause he loved us...and he knew us...and he was proud.
And Mike was still his friend....and we were all part...of what he begot.
And he begot, "our" Driggs Clan......
and here we are.....in all the glory that he gave us.....
More on:
My FAMILY:
AND ME...THE BABE (AND JAMIE)......
His life will live forever more...in the lives of our children, and their children...and the generations after.....just because...
Even though my Mama had her doubts in marrying him....God never had doubts...and he brought to each one of us.....a love that last the tests of time....
Eternity
The James Driggs (Sr.) Clan
Jim, Shelley, Nathaniel, Jill, Mike, Katie, Casey, Jerry, Cyndy, Janae, Levi, Jeff, Lori, Evan, Matthew, Alayna, Joy, Jay, Alyssa, Phillip, Jo, Jamie, Ben, Tyler, Caleb, Lance and Jessy
We are Driggs'......And I know I am proud!
