My Father-in-law

Hi everyone,

For those of you who don't know, my father-in-law Ralph was killed on Wednesday in a tragic Boat Accident that took place at two thirty in the afternoon. If you're interested, you can read about what happened and who he was here.

As for me, I've been having the hardest time trying to figure out what I should say about him in this blog or if I should say anything at all. The total and complete outpouring of love on Facebook for the man inspired me to write something here so that if he is somehow reading these messages wherever he is in the universe, he can know that I'm thinking about him too!

Ironically, but not surprisingly, my favorite memory of my father-in-law took place on his boat. It was the week before my wedding. One of my sisters-in-law, Jen, had flown in from California for the event. She actually married us but we were days away from that. Later on, we would find out she was pregnant with her first son. Jen frequently blogs about him here.

Anyway, we went out on his boat and spent the day--Jen, my future husband, my father-in-law, my brother-in-law Steven, and me. It was a great day on the water but I wasn't as careful as I should be about the sun. I'm a redhead, I must always be cautious. I got sunburned, a little bit, on my back. My dress, which was strapless, should have hidden the majority of it and did but every once in a while in some of the pictures, you would be able to see little spots of red. Small reminders of the great day we had on the water.

His passion was fishing and boating. Its both a tragedy and fitting that he died doing what he loved. I for one will miss hearing him call me 'daughter-in-law' when he called on the phone. Its hard to be here, in this place that he loved, without him.

To Paw Paw--you are missed. Thank you for the amazing memories. We all love you so much.