When Tattoo Met Molly

 "When Tattoo Met Molly"

It was a few months into 2021, after Wayne and I began dating, that we brought our furry family together: my dog, Molly, and Wayne's cat, Tattoo. Their initial introduction was far from harmonious. Tattoo, a fiercely territorial 14-year-old, saw Molly as an invading force threatening her beloved laundry room domain. Molly, equally set in her ways at 14, wasn't about to back down. Let's just say sparks didn't fly; hisses and growls did.

For a solid year, a six-foot radius around Tattoo was a no-go zone for both Molly and me. That laundry room was her sanctuary, and she wasn't interested in sharing it with anyone.

Slowly, ever so slowly, Tattoo began to soften. Eventually, Molly and Tattoo began sleeping next to each other and Tattoo and I became good friends.

Today, at the grand old age of 18 – a remarkable 270 in human years – Tattoo journeyed to her new Home. Some call it the Rainbow Bridge, but I like to imagine it as her reunion with her Mom, Cyndi, who was undoubtedly waiting for her there.

I don't claim to know God's plan for our pets, but what I do know is, He is a loving God....a God who gave us pets to love like family....a God who who loves Tattoo much like He loves us. And because I know this, I know she is better than she's ever been before.

Tattoo....you were so loved. See you on the other side....

We Talk About Them Because They Were Ours

 November 5, 2024

LIZ PRAYER JOURNAL - November 5, 2018

6:00 am

Father God, I checked to make sure Chuck was still breathing before coming in to journal to You. Lightly. Not gasping as he has so often been lately. Father, I don't know what lies ahead...I truly don't....but I know Your plan is mightier than mine....and I know You placed me here at this very time for this very moment.

10:36 pm.

Right after writing the words above to You, I went to wake Chuck up. He was gone. He was Healed. It was 6:30 am. A wheelchair will never be a part of his life ever again. You handed this man I married a Gift....a beautiful Gift of Mercy today...Please walk me through the next few weeks when I can't see through the tears of my selfish grief.

Your Grateful but Sad Daughter

Liz

2024

As I write this, it was 6 years ago almost to this minute God called him Home ...yet Chuck's presence is still felt here next to me.

We see evidence of him from the first step through our front door where we see his tanned-smiling-face standing proudly on his "Keepin' It Cool" boat in a frame next to Wayne's late wife, Cyndi's. His leather hat hangs boldly on the wall of the most used room in the house....the 1/2 bath. His Luxury Edition Monopoly game he just "had" to have many years ago that the granddaughters (and their boyfriends) still play on when they're in town, sits smack dab in the middle of the dining room table, and His beloved tools still hang proudly in the garage.

Chuck is very present in our home.

Today, as we visit him and Cyndi at their final resting place at the National Cemetary....both sharing the same death date.....we will pull out Cyndi's lawn chairs, laugh and remember....as we toast them throughout the day by eating breakfast at Chuck's favorite IHOP ...then stopping at Cyndi's favorite, Torchey's, grabbing her beloved Hillbilly Queso and heading to Chuck's son, Troy's house tonight for some delicious smoked ribs....made on Chuck's old smoker.

They may not be physically with us today....but thank God....they are very much ALIVE!

"It is right for us to weep, but there is no need for us to despair. Chuck and Cyndi had pain here. They have no pain there. They struggled here. They have no struggles there.

You and I might wonder why God took them home. But they don't. They understand. They are, at this very moment, at peace in the presence of God."

Grief....Is A Gift

November 28, 2023

Earlier this month, on the anniversary of Chuck and Cyndi's Homecoming, Wayne and I visited the DFW Military Cemetery—a moment to press "pause" on life, to reflect, remember, and celebrate the journey we've taken.

Having both experienced the loss of our spouses, we've walked through the season of grief and emerged on the other side.

As we wandered among the rows of headstones in that serene and beautiful place, we came upon a man sitting quietly beside his loved one. It was a poignant reminder of where we've been—and a glimpse of where we may one day return.

We will all have to walk the Grief Road at some point in our journey, but may you find PEACE and COMFORT in the words of my favorite author, Ann Voskamp:

"There is no fear in letting tears come. Sadness is a GIFT to avoid the nothingness of numbness, and all hard places need water. GRIEF is a GIFT, and after a rain of tears, there is always more of you than before. What seems to be undoing you, can ultimately remake you." (Ann VosKamp, "The Broken Way")

The Real Deal

November 15, 2023

This - Man......

How I got so blessed to be CHOSEN by God to be his wife during this 4th quarter of our lives, I will never know. But there is not a day goes by I don't thank God for gifting me with Wayne Sekerke.

He is truly, one of the Kindest men I've ever met.

A few months after we started dating, he introduced me to his friends at his Fielder South Oaks Church in Mansfield. I was excited, anxious and curious all rolled into one. But as I entered the foyer of this precious church, there was a line of people just as excited, anxious and curious to meet me. These were his friends. His best friends. And they were also his late-wife Cyndi's friends. Enter "Nervous" into my range of emotions.

But there was a constant comment they all whispered in my ear as they hugged me for the first time that day: "Wayne Is The Real Deal" they all said. I breathed easier hearing this from those who had known and loved him for many years.

Over the course of the past three years of knowing Wayne, I have discovered over and over again, this statement to be true. He puts everyone ahead of himself in ALL things. He is the most selfLESS person this chick Liz has ever met. Just ask anyone who knows him....they'll tell ya.

He understands the importance of watering relationships and stopping his life to help theirs. It's nothing for him to take a day off work to spend with a neighbor he doesn’t know well who is going through a serious illness so his wife can get out of the house. This past weekend, he flew to CA to see his late-wife's parents.....a family he loves deeply and considers his own. He flew his grown sons in from the opposite end of the state to also spend time with the grandparents they love. It's what Wayne Sekerke does. He can't help it....it's just who he is.

So why am I telling you this? Maybe it's because most of us could learn from the example of Wayne Sekerke....myself included. Maybe we need to embrace others....before we embrace ourselves.

This man.....he is a quiet doer.....not expecting accolades for the kindness he extends to those around him or expecting anything in return. He does it because he simply doesn't know how not to.  

He is truly....."The Real Deal".