When Liz approached me about doing a "red" theme for our photos taken during the month of February, it was for 2 reasons:
1- Red is the color of Love, as in Valentine's Day; very appropriate.
2- My father had just passed away on Feb 4th after having a heart attack on Dec 9.
(Red is the color of Heart Health Awareness.)
My Father needed a triple bypass, and during tests prior to surgery they discovered he also had stage 4 lung cancer, which then caused the doctors to decide not to do the open heart surgery.
You may not know, but I spent a few weeks over Christmas at home in Central NY, spending time with my Dad. When he was finally stable and my aunt (his twin sister) was taking care of him, I headed back to TX only to wait. I knew his heart would get him before the cancer ever would. Less than 25% of his heart was functioning properly and he was in full congestive heart failure, yet we didn't have a time frame for the time Dad had left with us.
Then the morning of February 4th, I got the dreaded call from my Aunt: "Stephi, he's gone".
We cried together, and as I tried to stop shaking and gather myself, my husband swooped in full force and got the plans together for our trip back to NY.
So when I finally made it back to TX after Dad's services, I had a message from Liz stating her idea about the red theme. She thought it would be appropriate considering what I had just been through (and I LOVE her for it). I immediately loved it, and decided to share my personal story with you here, through photos.
You can read Liz's blogpost here.
As I stumbled across "red" messes in the house I cried, but tried to remember that each red photo you see here is in honor of the greatest man I've ever known. The man who taught me the difference between phillips and flat head screwdrivers and also the man who taught me everything he knew about cooking (he was a great chef and we even owned a restaurant growing up).
Here's to you Dad, in support of Heart Health.
Enjoy this month's edition of Red Beautiful Messes.
The red bracelet you see here in photos was given to me the morning of my Dad's services by my cousins. They had decided that we all should wear a piece of red for the day and they came with red bracelets for us all.
That meant the world to me. See, these cousins are the children of my Dad's twin sister, so we are all extremely close, and I know they were hurting just as much as I was.
We hope you enjoy these red "Beautiful Messes" as much as we know our families enjoyed creating them.
