{"id":911,"date":"2019-12-03T02:52:47","date_gmt":"2019-12-03T02:52:47","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.glitterandgraceteens.com\/?p=911"},"modified":"2019-12-03T02:52:47","modified_gmt":"2019-12-03T02:52:47","slug":"one-missed-text","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.empoweredjesusgirl.com\/?p=911","title":{"rendered":"one missed text"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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Last\nSaturday was the first time in a long time that I did not receive a text\nmessage or call from my Papa about the Clemson vs Carolina football game. He\nwas a true Gamecock fan for some reason and I, on the other hand, was born and\nraised a Clemson fan. He used to always text me or call me when Clemson lost or\neven when they won. Even when Clemson would lose, I loved reading his simple\ntext \u201chow about them Tigers?\u201d His rival comments were always so calm but came\nwith a purpose. When he would call or leave a message, he always started out\nwith \u201cKayla, this is your grandpa calling\u2026\u201d Or when I was living at home with\nan old school answering machine, we would quote him before he spoke \u201cRoger,\nthis is your dad\u2026\u201d He just had a voice and demeanor that everyone knew. We had\nan ongoing family football division but it was always fun and games. To be\nhonest, I never really cared that much for football, but I did love the\nrivalry, grilling out, and just the fun of it all. It was a way for my papa and\nme to connect even when we were too busy to get together. When I married a Georgia\nfan, it got interesting, but that was just one more rivalry to add to the\ntable. I\u2019m sure papa would have gotten a kick out of the game this year. (Sorry\nDustin, but you know it\u2019s true)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

During\nthe summer, we would spend our days at the lake with papa and grandma and\nwhichever cousins or other family members or friends would show up. We would\nfish or just go for boat rides every weekend, sit at the falls or just swim\naround. In the evening we would grill out and everyone was invited. I never\nremember asking them if we could come over, we just did. We all did. My Papa\nloved people and he loved to be with his family and friends. I remember waking\nup early on summer Saturday mornings to the smell of coffee and bacon, my dad\u2019s\nspecialty. Whether we sat on our porch overlooking the calm water or walked\nover to grandma and papa\u2019s place, we were at home. Though his cabin was torn\ndown last summer for future developments, those memories can never be taken\naway. I dreamed of the day I would be able to walk my boys down to the same\ndock that my papa and dad built themselves. I wanted to see my boys sit down\nunder the tin roof shed and listen to the rain as it passed over on a hot\nsummer day. I imagined my papa and grandma sitting on the dock, probably with a\nline in the water, just watching the boys jump in the water a hundred times.\nWhat would it be like if he was still here? Would I even have made the time to\nenjoy those moments? <\/p>\n\n\n\n

I\nlive less than 5 minutes from my grandparents\u2019 house, but for some reason, as\nan adult, I would always find myself too busy to drop by and spend time with\nthem. As a child, I spent every summer weekend with them and a lot of my other\nfamily members as well, but as an adult, life just got busy. From long summers\nto only holidays and text messages, our relationship died down but our families\nkept growing. When our campground started to dissipate as investors tried (and\nare still trying) to take it over for land development, my papa basically let\ngo of his place. It was too much for him to handle and just not the same\nwithout a dock and a place for his boat. We had to remove docks, clear land,\nand in one day, the investors bulldozed the home that sheltered my childhood\nsummers. I can still smell the fruity pebbles on busy mornings and the\nsparklers on July 4th<\/sup>. The campfire was always going and the American\nflag hung on each of our decks. There are too many memories to count, but so\nmany memories I feel like I missed out on with him and my children just because\nI didn\u2019t make time for them. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

My\npapa didn\u2019t text me during the game Saturday because his life on earth ended a\nfew months ago. The week before my first year teaching Released Time at Pickens\nMiddle School, I was sitting on a boat in Edisto with a few good friends and\ntheir kids, my mother in law, and my husband and boys. My phone had been\nringing for a while but I never heard it since it was in my bag under my seat.\nAs the sun was setting and I was enjoying the view, my husband handed me his\nphone to show me a text from my sister that said \u201ctell Kayla to call me now.\u201d\nIn my gut, I knew something was wrong. As I picked up the phone and called her\nback, my heart sank. All she could say was, \u201cpapa died.\u201d She couldn\u2019t explain\nit, she didn\u2019t know how, and she was just in shock and hurting. I just wanted\nto be there with my family but I couldn\u2019t. I was hours away in the ocean, a\nplace my papa always loved. As tears flowed down my cheek, I looked out at the\nsunset and just prayed for strength and peace that only God could provide. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The\nweekend before we left for Edisto, we visited my papa and he was healthy,\nhappy, and ready to get his surgery over with. He was scheduled for a simple\nsurgery on his kidneys and was supposed to be out of the hospital in less than\na week. He told me that he loved me and he would see me soon as we walked out\nthe door. I knew he would be just fine. I was wrong. The day of his surgery, my\ndad called to tell me everything was great and the doctors didn\u2019t have any\nconcerns. Every day, every call, my dad said the same thing, he\u2019s doing great.\nThe night before my papa passed, he was cracking jokes with my dad and smiling.\nHe didn\u2019t look like anything was wrong with him. For some reason, the next day,\nhe passed away suddenly after cardiac arrest. His heart just wasn\u2019t as strong\nas it needed to be. We don\u2019t have all the answers, nor will I ever understand\nwhy this happened, but what I do know is that my papa is in a much better\nplace. Whatever his body could not handle on this earth is no longer a\nhindrance to him in heaven. He is free and his death was simply a part of God\u2019s\npurpose for his life. The next morning, I woke up early with my boys, and took\na walk on the beach, one of his favorite things to do, and just remembered him\nfor who he was and felt his presence as if he were walking beside me. I know\nthat he is gone but he will always be remembered. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

As\nI look back, before my teenage years, I remember every detail of the little\nthings that my papa did to make me feel special. I remember his calm demeanor,\nhis \u201cwell Dean\u201d (my grandma\u2019s name) comments when things didn\u2019t go just as\nplanned, and his love for his family no matter what happened. I remember\nsummers that I never wanted to end and walks on the beach in silence, just enjoying\nGod\u2019s creation. I wish I had more moments like that, but I don\u2019t have that\nchance anymore. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Today,\nI want you to take a deep breath and think about someone you\u2019ve disconnected\nfrom in the last year. Who do you only speak to on holidays or special\noccasions? How would you feel if that person was no longer around for you to\nsee? <\/p>\n\n\n\n

There\nwas a silence on Saturday, though even from a text, that reminded me of the\nrelationship I had with my papa. It wasn\u2019t long in depth conversations about\nlife, but it was life and living it together. On Sunday mornings, as we sat on\nhis screened in porch at the lake, he would pick up his bible and head out to\nchurch. No matter how pretty the sun was or how less crowded the lake would be,\nhe made a point to go to church every Sunday. His lifestyle left an imprint on\nall those around him. Make an impact on others and pass on a legacy of respect\nand honor for those that have served the Lord before you. Spend time, make\ntime, and be present with those in your presence. Put down your phones and just\nlive. No matter how many pictures you have on your phone they will never be able\nto compare to the memories, the sights, the sounds, the smells of the moments\nand the people that meant most to you.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I\npray that my children will always respect their grandparents and never get so\nwrapped up in their own lives that they forget about those around them. I\u2019m\nsure I\u2019m not the only one that regrets not spending enough time with someone\nthat loved so much, so don\u2019t let that next regret be yours. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Some\nof his military buddies might beg to differ, but he was a man with a gentle\nspirit that calmed the room in any chaos. He was a man of God that loved his\nfamily and will always be missed. He was my papa. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

I\nmiss you pops! And by the way, \u201cGo Tigers!\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cDear children,\u00a0let us not love with words or speech but with actions and in truth.\u201d 1 John 3:18<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

May God bless you and show you His Grace every day!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Kayla Rampey<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Last Saturday was the first time in a long time that I did not receive a text message or call from my Papa about the Clemson vs Carolina football game. He was a true Gamecock fan for some reason and I, on the other hand, was born and raised a Clemson fan. He used to … Continue reading one missed text<\/span> →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-911","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-weekly-devotions"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","post_mailing_queue_ids":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.empoweredjesusgirl.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/911","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.empoweredjesusgirl.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.empoweredjesusgirl.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.empoweredjesusgirl.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.empoweredjesusgirl.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=911"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.empoweredjesusgirl.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/911\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":914,"href":"https:\/\/www.empoweredjesusgirl.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/911\/revisions\/914"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.empoweredjesusgirl.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=911"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.empoweredjesusgirl.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=911"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.empoweredjesusgirl.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=911"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}