The lilacs are in bloom and every
time I walk out onto the deck, I smell them. Lilacs and April are two reminders
of Jim. He left this world on April 18, 2005.
The lilacs reminded me of a story
Aunt Nita shared at Jim’s services:
“I remember a time a few years ago
when Jim and I were sitting in the swing. It was in early spring; we had been
talking, but not a lot. Jim got up and said, ‘Aunt Nita, do you smell that?’ He
walked over to a big lilac bush and picked a handful. He brought them back to
me and said, ‘Smell this, Aunt Nita. Don’t they smell good?’ Remembering Jim, I
always do, for I know he is one of God’s chosen few.”
When we were planning Jim’s
services, I took a yellow pad up to Virginia’s house and asked everyone to tell
me stories about Jim. I wrote the stories down, and I was still typing them
when Gary Richardson came to our house to go over the memorial service.
Gary pushed the paper back to me and
said, “Tell me these stories.” I told Gary the stories, and he said, “Those are
wonderful stories, but if I read them, they are just stories. You lived those
stories, and if you tell them, they will come alive.”
 |
| Jim, Easter, circa 1999 |
Rob and Eric both agreed and said
that I should tell the stories. My first thought was that I couldn’t do it, but
after more thought and encouragement, I decided I could do it. That is if
everyone put on his or her “happy” face.
Some of my favorite memories of Jim
involved travel and music. Here are a few of the stories I shared:
Jim’s favorite place to vacation
was Estes Park, Colorado, and the Rocky Mountain National Park. We went to
Colorado fourteen consecutive years. Jim was happiest when waking up on a cold
Colorado morning, making a pot of coffee on the camp stove and cooking
breakfast. I loved the cold mountain mornings too, but not quite as much as Jim
did. I would snuggle beneath the covers in our bed in the van. Jim would bring
me a cup of coffee in bed and sing the sleepy head song to me…
Music was important to the entire
Fisher family. Jim was talented and could play the guitar, fiddle, banjo,
mandolin—anything with strings. He enjoyed playing music with his dad, uncles,
brothers (Bob and Billy) and a good friend, John Cook.
Sometimes music could get the
Fishers in trouble and could almost cause fights. One time when Jim was playing
his guitar, and Uncle Jewel was playing the fiddle, Billy sneaked up behind
Uncle Jewel and goosed him. Uncle Jewel jumped, hit Jim in the head with the
fiddle bow, knocked Jim to his knees, and gashed his head open. Uncle Jewel got
mad, Jim had a dazed look on his face, and for some reason, Billy, who caused
the ruckus, was the only one who thought it was hilarious.
Jim liked to hear Mom and me sing
“Mansion Over the Hilltops.” The words describe wanting a
mansion, a harp, and a crown.” Jim wasn’t the kind of person who would want a
mansion, or a crown, but he would want that harp, because it has strings.
I can just hear Jim playing
“Buckaroo” on the harp. I bet Heaven never heard anything else quite like it.
Copyright © April 2017 by L.S.
Fisher
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