Mr. Woodard

On Sunday before we celebrated Cal's birthday, Meg and I took lunch to the Woodard family.  We had found out earlier in the month that the treatment Mr. Woodard had tried to treat his aggressive, rare form of bladder cancer had not worked.  He returned home from Houston to spend time with loved ones and from what he said to Paula to enjoy his "own funeral" before his time was up.  As we were originally told that he had been given six months, Meg and I thought we'd sign up to take a meal to the family in June when school had ended and we had plenty of time to prepare.  Paula let me know Monday that we should speed up our plans.  She was concerned that he wouldn't be with us past Memorial Day.

Thus, I went right to my computer and signed up to bring a meal on Sunday the 20th.  Meg had tennis commitments all week and Cam had two music concerts.  I told Meg that we may not get to visit with Mr. Woodard, but he would know that we had planned on it.  I then left it up to God.  If we were supposed to see him we would, if we weren't then it was fate.  Several teachers had already taken meals over and they were mixed on his condition.  Some felt he was fading fast.  Others felt that he was was holding strong.  All agreed that Mr. Woodard loved having visitors and would be ready for hugs when we got there.

Doug volunteered to make lasagna for the family along with garlic bread and fruit.  My Mom made  two dozen cupcakes for dessert.  As soon as Meg and I arrived his son greeted us to take the food off of our hands.  We were pleased that Mr. Woodard was sitting up in his recliner ready to greet us.  He stood and hugged both Meg and I.  While his family dug into the lasagna, we enjoyed listening to stories and sharing favorite memories.  Meg and I had the best conversations with Mr. Woodard and were so incredibly glad that he was up for our visit.  As we got ready to leave he walked us to the door and said "Don't be a stranger."  Both Meg and I knew in our hearts that this was our last visit.  We were so thankful that it was a good one.  I found out on Monday that he had gone to bed on Sunday afternoon and wasn't taking anymore visitors.  I was sad to hear, but felt fortunate that he waited for Meg to see him.  What a wonderful gift.