3 of us in the back seat
on a long trip to the sea.
Mom driving the car.
Dad reading aloud.

A tale of a great white
that attacks from the deep.
His voice quiet and calm,
as we hang on every word.
With anticipation and fear
of a creature called Jaws,
and the water we’d soon be swimming.

While Dad grins with satisfaction,
that he held our attention,
as he told us his version of
a ghost story.

I met Tim in October 2001. Our company was closing small offices in Florida and moving us to a larger office in Ocala. I moved from the Orlando area and he had moved from South Florida. I was a trainer and one of my teammates and I were co-facilitating a training class for all the reps in the call center.

The day Tim attended the class my teammate had to leave early, so he asked Tim to help me with the class since Tim was familiar with the topic. When we were introduced and I looked into his eyes, it took my breath away — I just knew he was someone special. To this day I still vividly remember that moment, the first time I looked into those gorgeous brown eyes.

It took him six years to catch up to me and realize we should be more than friends, but he was definitely worth the wait.

A few days after my mom passed, I had a dream. I suffered a lot, but I always trusted in God.

In my dream, my mom looked younger, like when she was 35 with her burgundy hair (this age I always think of my mom, even when she was alive.) She was wearing a suit that she liked very much (black & white lined plaid and red flowers pattern). I didn’t see it, but in my conscience, I had this intuitive conviction she was in a roller coaster. Two people (a man and a woman) were sitting on the back seat (they looked young too.) All of them were looking at the sky and they were smiling. There was peace in their expressions and then I saw something blurry. It was a paragraph (about 3-4 lines), but I couldn’t read the message and then one short phrase appeared clearly in Spanish and it read: “yo estoy bien.” The text was bright as gold.

Those words felt so real and they gave me hope and peace of mind that my mom is okay and that I don’t need to worry because God is taking care of her. “Yo estoy bien” means “I’m okay.” This isn’t the only experience that has happened to me since mom left. I could tell you many stories. I have learned that God is merciful and sometimes he allows us to see things to let us know that he has never abandoned us and that his promises are real.

Camping, drag races, watching NASCAR, going to bump n runs — these are not the same without him! He was a car guy, a Chevy guy for sure! Loved going to the races, loved camping, loved his girls, loved his granddaughters, loved life!

Joe Joe had such a joyful, infectious laugh that could be heard from miles away. It came about like that of a strong wind, evolving into a heavy storm that rained with childish glee. Even through a sea of people, he easily stood out as his laugh could carry across the vastness of space. It was addicting, so contagious that you would soon laugh along; even if you didn’t know what for. His laugh could brighten any room; though its lovely radiance could never truly match the beauty of his smile. And yet, both his laugh and his smile were only windows to his heart, where everyone could see the love and kindness he had held inside.