My Dad

My Dad passed away last weekend. He had a series of strokes five years ago but, thanks to the amazing care that my brother gave him, my dad went into extra innings.

We had a amazing funeral service, immediate family only. Our friend, Andy Scott, played the bagpipes. We ate Snickers Bars, my Dad's favorite, and sang "the Yellow Rose of Texas." Afterwards we all went to dinner and at the end my wonderhusband read this piece that he wrote about my dad. I thought it was pretty spiff and thought you might like to read it too. ~ Marilyn.

To:  Family
Subject:  the current order of business,

Jim Scott was a lot of things to a lot of people.  As Jim would say he had his meat hooks in a lot of pies.  He was involved involved in the lives of an uncountable number of people. To some he was an organizer, cheerleader, helper and to some, a force of nature.

Jim was larger than life.  He was an individual.  He did what he wanted and said what he thought.  If you think about it, what a great way to live.

Jim was not bound by social convention or by grammar. Phrases like "water seeks it's own level" and "take the shot" were not just said carelessly.  To Jim, these words held power and meaning.  We didn't know  it at the time, but they would found their way into our own vocabularies.  We would end up saying them to others, conveying in our own way that power and meaning.

Jim lived lived his life by his own code, and that the most important things in life are respect, giving to others, having a plan for your life or "knowing where you were going to land", and most important of all, family. 

Mostly, Jim was about family.  Watching a sporting event with family members or talking around a table like this.  Speeches would be made, and we would know in that way that we were loved and a part of something bigger than ourselves.

How many of us can say we lived our lives the way we want, that we know what we want and how to get it?  How many of us can say we know our place in the world, the universe or with our god with the certainty of Jim Scott? 

I'm sure that after a speech such as this Jim would want us to clink our glasses.