Thinking of my Dad, June 18, 2011

Last night, June 17th we were late getting home and it was dark, but my yard lights were all shinning brightly and I began to think of my dad when I saw them.

I was very fortunate in my life to have had Orley Edwin Bills Sr as my father.
I don't know if I had been allowed to choose him as my father or not but I like to think that I chose him as my dad.

Dad had a wonderful sense of humor and that must be why a Good sense of Humor is very important to me when I choose friends. a few last Memories of my Dad was Shortly before he died, On Thanksgiving day of 2003, My mom had found my Dad on the floor beside his bed, when she woke up, she didn't know how long he had acrually lain there, his legs had finally given out on him and he could no longer stand on his own. Mom called Randy and he came right over and helped mom get Dad up off the floor. My brothers Orley Jr and Randy, helped him around all that day and after dinner it was decided that they should take him to the emergency ward and be checked out, He had no strength in his legs and could not stand on his own at all, so It was decided that dad would go to a rehabilitation center for some therapy to help him get back on his feet. Dad worked hard at his therapy but it was not helping him to regain any strength, so he was wheel chair bound. Several weeks later we received a call saying they had rushed my dad to the hspital, he was running a very high temperature and his blood pressure was out of control.

By the time I got to the hospital They had him in an intensive care unit and were working on him and running him through a bunch of tests, they couldn't find anything wrong except the fever and blood pressure problem, they had finally done all they could do and then they placed him in a room where we were allowed to gather and be by him as a family. I was standing by Dad as he kept reaching up like he was trying to take a hold of something, I said "Dad what are you trying to reach" and he said, "I'm trying to reach those stars" I said "What Stars Dad?" and he started to sing "Twinkle Twinkle little star".

After several days in the hospital his blood pressure was down and his temperature was returning to normal, Mom had a meeting with us kids and told us that we would need to decide whether life saving measures would be needed if he had another spell like that last one, Luckily they didn't put him on life support at that time but we needed to decide if this happened again and life support was an option what we sould need to do, If it was a yes or no decision . It was decided at that time that we would opt for NO life support. We all knew that Dad would hate living without his abilities to take care of himself, he hated being wheelchair bound, he and Mom had talked about this a few times and both had agreed they would not want life support if they had no quality of life left in their life. after we talked we went back into Dads room to tell him we were leaving for the night, Mom bent down to give him a kiss and said "I'll see you tomorrow Orley" Dad said "are you going home"? Mom said yes, Dad immediately tried to get out of bed and said "Wait a minite and I'll go with you" That was so like my Dad. We explained he couldn't go with us until he was feeling better and able to walk a little" After that Dad tried even harder with his therapy but still could not gain any strength back.

All in all it was about a month later on December 28, 2003 That Dad Passed away.
The people that I worked with at Einder Dairy, took up a little collection, and gave me some money in a sympathy Card, I offered it to Mom to help with some of the expenses but Mom said she didn't need that money as Dads expenses were all taken care of and so my thoughts went back to the night that dad sang twinkle twinkle little star and I decided to buy some Yard lights with that money. Then in the evenings when I saw them shinning I would think of my Dad as he sang Twinkle Twinkle little Star.

These were some of my thoughts as I looked at my yard lights last night.
Tomorrow is Fathers Day and once again I am so Thankful for the wonderful Dad I was blessed to have in this life. Happy Fathewrs Day Dad

Cherish The Time You Have together

I belong to an incredimail stationary group, and one creator always adds this footer to her stationary, She just sent this through her group and it has touched me very deeply




I have had many of you ask about the butterfly....In the footer of my letters you will see a butterfly with "Cherish The Time You Have Together". It came from a letter my son wrote about 2 months before he died. The class assignment was to write a letter to yourself to be opened when they graduated from high school. The letter was where they would be at that time in there life. I never knew the letter existed. His teacher brought it to me at the funeral home. It was sealed. He wrote about his family and friends it was thoughtful and funny. The very last line read, "Cherish The Time You Have Together". He was just 17. It was such a gift to have that in my hands in his own writing. I believe God knew I would need that on that very day. I treasure that precious letter. The butterfly being so significant, the colors of the butterfly were his favorite and of course the saying. We had it inscribed on his tombstone in his own handwriting.