Mr. R.L.

One of the sweetest men I've ever known went home to Jesus this past weekend. He lost his battle with Lou Gehrig's disease. He fought hard. Upon being diagnosed, he knew the most likely outcome. He made peace with it and knew that in the end, he'd be with his Savior.


We live in small town South Georgia. Mr. RL was known here for many things. He was everyone's plumber, for one. I can remember how hard he laughed at me the time he came to fix our potty. I told him I thought it was leaking....bc the bathroom smelled like pee all the time, even after I cleaned it good. He laughed as he reminded me that I had a 3 yr old boy just learning to use the potty whose aim wasn't good. No, the potty was NOT leaking.

Mr. RL was more than a plumber. He had creative juices flowing in many areas. He is known around our area for making gorgeous wooden serving trays lined with ceramic tile. Yes, I have one and it's the BEST breakfast-in-bed tray ever! When we moved from one house into another, our armoire (in the back of a pick-up truck) had a little "run-in" with the roof of the garage. Guess who beautifully repaired it? Mr. RL. (U-Haul?! We use pick up trucks and cow trailers to move. WE haul.)

His peanut brittle was highly touted and if you received some as a Christmas gift, you considered yourself something special. I have never tasted a better brittle. I think he knew this past Christmas would be his last one making peanut brittle. Somehow, he managed to make it into their kitchen and spent time teaching his son the secret recipe.

He and Mrs. Marie have ponds on their property. Our kids spent many a morning and afternoon fishing there. With fish in the south come fish fries! They hosted many fish fries in their pond house. Mr. R.L. love to fish, loved to eat fish, and loved eating fried fish with his family and friends.

I could go on and on with many good memories of Mr. RL and his wife Mrs. Marie. Those two found each other later in life, each having lost their first spouses. They were so much in love with each other and didn't care who saw them holding hands and cooing over each other. They were one of Appledoodle's very first visitors 4 1/2 years ago...and you can see in the picture that he couldn't keep his hands off of Mrs. Marie! It was precious....and contagious. Once, we invited them over to celebrate their anniversary and served them as if they were in a fancy restaurant, complete with menu and pint sized servers!

My dad and Mr. RL were very dear friends, along with my mom and Mrs Marie. My elderly...I mean older brothers and their families came home for a few days Christmas weekend. We are a very musical family, and Daddy pondered aloud how nice it would be if we could work out a time to go caroling at Mr. RL and Mrs. Marie's. Long story short, we worked it all out. Our first night together, the entire family piled into cars and took off across the countryside and down bumpy dirt roads to their home. It was threatening rain but God held it off for us.....slippery dirt roads in the dark are treacherous. It didn't make a difference that not everyone in the family knew Mr. RL. We all knew this was important and special to Papa....and that's what mattered. There were 17 of us, including grandkids from age 4 to 22. We piled into their home, surrounded Mr. RL and Mrs. Marie and began to sing the beautiful carols of Christmas. I must say that this was one of the most touching and meaningful memories I have ever had with my extended family. Mr. RL was fighting for every breath he took with the oxygen mask. But at one point, he lowered the mask and sang along with us for a few strained notes. Mrs. Marie was so gracious and thankful that we came....said our visit made their Christmas. Well guess what? I think our family was blessed and touched by this more than anything else this Christmas season.

Mr. RL busted the gates of heaven wide open early Saturday morning. I wonder if the angels were singing southern gospel for him? I wish I could have seen his Homecoming.



We love you, Mr. RL. See you soon.