Thanksgiving.

I have tried writing this post a couple of times now & I am just not sure how to start it or what to write so I am just going to type and try to find the words.

This Thanksgiving wasn't what we were expecting & frankly I am still in denial. You hear of stories like this but you never think it would happen to you and your family but it can & it did.

We had decided awhile ago to host Thanksgiving at our house. Justin loves to cook and to entertain & now that we have the space, it made perfect sense. Family started arriving around 2:30ish and we took to the front yard to enjoy the weather. We played football & even with Kaden's help interfering with Deonte, Leann and I still lost-I blame it on the boots.

Once Cousin Colton arrived we took off to the park hand in hand. Logie proceeded to drag Froggie around with him everywhere he went and Kaden and Colton chased each other around. The boys ran up the stairs and went down the slides. They pumped their little legs as quickly as they could and swung as high as they could. It was starting to get a little dark so we headed back to the house cause we knew dinner would soon be served.

When we arrived, most all of our guest were there, except one. We sent a message to him but decided to go ahead and start. We finished our meal & no word. We looked through the ads & still no word. This wasn't like him & so instantly we all started to worry.  Something felt off, we started calling around checking with the police. It was about this time that we ran across an article about an accident that had happened the night before and although it didn't release any names we could tell by the description that our friend was in a very bad accident and hadn't survived. A few short minutes later, our worst fears were just confirmed by the local police & our evening came to a halt. He was suppose to be here. With us. At our table. Enjoying Thanksgiving dinner. Laughing and telling stories…and he wasn't.

Charlie was a great man. He cared for our family and was hands down one of the nicest guys that we knew. Its still hard thinking about what this holiday brought to our family (and to his) and I am sure it will be hard for awhile but the one thing I am so very thankful for-we were all together when we got the news. We were all able to hold on to one another, to cry with one another. Charlie will be missed dearly and our thoughts and prayers go out to his family-mother, brother, children, grandchildren & his friends. We lost a great man Wednesday evening and I only hope he knew how much our family cared for him.