The top picture is my beloved husband Tom, or Tommy (as most of our family and friends called him), and that is me with him when we announced our wedding for October 23, 1982.

I fondly remember that about a year or so before we married, Tom asked me out at least 5 times before I finally said yes, but I told him that I wanted the option to dance with other people if they asked me.  He said that was cool.  And did you know, that man never let me off the dance floor.  We had so much fun!  I believe he had a plan though.  Lol!  At least I always teased him about it!  We always had a good time together!  If anyone knows him, they would tell you in a heartbeat that he was one of the most fun loving men you would ever meet!  He loved his family and friends and loved being with them every chance he could get!  NO DOUBT ABOUT IT, HE WAS THE LIFE OF THE PARTY!

Tom was a hard working man and a true entrepreneur in his soul!  He was a welder  with his own welding rig when I met him and was quite the handy man throughout our years together!  He could do just about anything with his hands and do it very well!  I used to tease him about having magic hands!   I remember our son telling him that he believed he could do just about anything!  And I believe that he could!  He was very crafty and quite talented!

He would take me boat riding, and we both loved to slalom water ski.  He would drive the boat for me to ski.  And I would drive the boat for him.  He could almost touch his ear to the water when he would cut from side to side.  I used to tease him about looking like a little rabbit on the water swiftly hopping the wake from side to side.  He was a great water skier.  I loved watching him enjoy his time on the water!  It was just one of the fun things we enjoyed doing together.  When our son was old enough, we would all go water skiing!  Those were sure fun times as a family!   I remember it like it was yesterday!

He was quite the patriot and  outdoorsman!  He loved his country and the outdoors so much!  And he became quite the Houston Astros baseball fan as well!  But he really enjoyed hunting and fishing, and as he got a little older, he found that he loved fishing a little more than hunting.  He used to say that he just wasn’t so mad at the deer anymore.  Lol!  So the deer lease was deleted and the Galveston home was added.  

Our Galveston bay home was a great place to get away for a nice break and refresh ourselves as each week had a tendency to offer "life and more of it"!  (That is a phrase I learned from Tom’s Mom!)  And it was an awesome place for him to park his boat on the water and for us to share beautiful moments with family and friends.  And oh what fun everyone had at this waterfront property that we renovated!  And I must say that it was indeed one of our best renovations!  We loved our sunrises, sunsets, beach walks, and bike rides on the Island together!  We named our bay home the Sea Chaser after our first grandson Chase.  And Tom was in the process of building a flounder boat out of an old fiberglass paddle boat.  And we were going to name it the Cole Cat after our second grandson Cole.  I just loved that we included our grands that way and it is just so special!  Our grands called us Nana and Papa!  And Tom was a wonderful Papa! 

I think if I were to express our marriage in a brief manner, I would have to say that we were connected at the hip. (Tom always teased me about it anyway!)  We were plain and simply soul mates!  We made a great team and worked hard to be accomplished in life as we had very humble beginnings starting out in a 14x80 mobile home and made it to a very comfortable retirement in our early 60s with a plan of leaving something for our family when it was our time to be with the Lord.  We raised a respectable very loving and caring son who has a heart of gold and has a beautiful family! And our son and daughter-in-law have blessed us with two awesome grandsons!  And the grands are simply the best!  Love them both to the moon and back!

So, I believe VERY BLESSED is a good way to describe us!  Tom told me one time, MAN I LOVE BEING MARRIED TO YOU!  AND I LOVED BEING MARRIED TO THIS MAN OF MINE AS WELL!  We had a good marriage, and I believe the pictures reflect it very well! 

Our hard work and dedication to our jobs, businesses, and properties  paid off!  And we made quite the team!  Because life was good as we headed into retirement!  But unfortunately, due to Covid and wrongful medical treatments, my beloved husband unexpectedly went to be with the Lord on Ash Wednesday in March of 2022.  It happened 7 months before we celebrated our 40th wedding anniversary.  It was quite heartbreaking to say the least as he had just retired in April 2021.  We were just beginning to step out in our retirement with a bucket list of adventures we were both looking forward to bringing to life! 

There are no words that can come even close to describing how much I miss my husband and the life we had together!  But I believe wholeheartedly that his spirit is with me, and he will forever be in my heart!  My husband gave me the angel picture years ago for our anniversary one year.  You have to admit that it is certainly a refreshing picture and it quite simply touched my heart then, and it continues to touch my heart now as it is hanging in my bedroom where it has always been displayed!  I love it!

I believe wholeheartedly that only God knows why things happen the way they do as well as what the future holds!  And I know that I will be just fine moving forward as my Faith is strong, and I believe with all my heart that WITH GOD ALL THINGS ARE POSSIBLE! 

I have opted to include several snapshots below!  I am so grateful for them and hope you enjoy them as much as I love them!