Mom asked Jeremy to speak at Asa's funeral service. He was very nervous and unsure of what to say, but put together these wonderful words:
I would like to start off by saying a few things on behalf of Asa. If he was here and able to speak to us right now, the first thing that he would say would be a sincere and heartfelt thank you. Next he would ask us that we all look after his ( babycakes or Annie) and try to help her through this difficult time. (We’ll do our best Papa.) And after he had those two important items covered, he would then start apologizing to us, telling us he’s sorry that we had to make such a big fuss for him.
And finally after he made everyone understand that they really didn’t need to make such a big deal about him, he would look at me at tell me “I thought I told you not to worry about wearing a suit to my funeral.”
Up to the end, always more worried about others than himself.
I, like many of you, consider myself lucky to have shared some time on this Earth with Asa. He was truly one of the kindest, most giving people I have ever met.
Not long after I married Natalie, I truly began to understand how much Asa enjoyed taking care of/supporting others. As most of you know, Asa loved sports and got a lot of enjoyment from watching his teams win. We thought that his beloved Atlanta Braves and Georgia Bulldogs had completely filled the sports section of his heart. We didn’t know how wrong we were until Augusta got a hockey team.
When the hockey team first started, I thought well that’s something good for Ann & Asa to have. A local team that they can go and watch together and enjoy… but then things started to get serious. I heard Asa say unheard of things like “It’s going to be a rough weekend… The Lynx have a game Saturday in Columbia at 7:30, so I’ll either have to skip the noon Georgia game or I’ll have to drive all of the way to Columbia once the Georgia game is over.” At this point, I was thinking what’s gotten in to him, skip a Georgia game?
Then we ‘caught’ Ann & Asa after a game; fully decked out in the hockey gear. And on the Lynx jerseys that they were wearing they had buttons… of players… like the kind moms and dads wear of their kids at their high school sporting events. At that point in time, the family pretty much thought they were going a little overboard… Soon we’d hear stories of Asa driving to Atlanta and back before daybreak to give Marty a ride to the airport… Other stories of road trips through the south to watch the hockey team trickled in; at the time… we thought wow that’s crazy.
But Asa was simply being Asa; trying to take care of some guys who were miles and miles away from their homes; just making sure that they had a friendly face in the crowd and helping hand if they needed it. Looking back, it’s pretty silly that we were surprised about how overboard he was going.
While nearly everything Asa did appeared to be for others, there was one thing that Asa soaked up the full enjoyment of, without apologies.
His grandchildren.
For those who don’t know, Big Blue was a lazy boy recliner of Asa’s… Asa’s chair was perfect for sitting back, watching a Dawgs road game, nodding off… But Asa’s nirvana; that was sitting in big blue and rocking one his of grandchildren. The joy that Asa got from his grandbabies can’t be properly put into words. Any attempt by me, would be a failure.
But Papa had a skill in holding the babies that somehow appeared to fix any problems.
As the babies kept getting bigger (and more babies came along); big blue moved on to a new assignment; and Asa’s love and the pure joy that he got from his grandchildren only grew as the number of his grandchildren grew to twelve. His face would light up when he tried to listen to one of them on the phone. He never got tired of hearing “Papa can you push me?” at the playground.
Also, Papa was the escape hatch for the children if there was ever trouble. Time out at Cracker Barrel – a couple of tears, a look at Papa, and then the words “Papa hold you me.” Time out session finished, child in Papa’s lap, parents looking at Papa, Papa smiling back saying “Sorry…I couldn’t just let her cry…”
These past few months have been a bit of a blessing and a curse for Asa. While I don’t think he ever agreed that now was his time to go to heaven, we did talk about how lucky he felt that he knew his timeline. While we talked about it, he stayed true to form. He told me “I feel lucky that I know. I could have had an accident and just be gone. At least now I get a chance to say goodbye…” but without stopping for a pause he added…”but I just hate it for ya’ll, I wish ya’ll didn’t have to watch me…”
Even facing a terminal diagnosis, he was more worried about us having to watch him instead of himself.
We love you Papa…
You amaze me, Jeremy! Thank you for sharing such a perfect view of Asa. He would be so grateful and proud.
