Keeping Memories Alive

It's funny how the anniversary of one's death seems to bring so many memories flooding back for those left behind. Today marks the anniversary of Rusty's death. In talking with the kids recently, it saddens me as I've realized just how much they have forgotten in just a year. In retrospect, Rusty hadn't been at a 100 percent since they were three years old. But, in talking with them they were able to conjure up a few memories which I wanted to keep alive for them.

In addition to "he liked OSU, he was fun, and he was really tall," a running theme involving Uncle Rusty is that he always had candy. Delaney recalls that it was all to funny when he once fed twizzlers to the dog and then they joined the fun. They also recalled that Uncle Rusty always seemed to have candy, especially twizzlers and hot tamales. I'm not so sure that Uncle Rusty always had candy, as that he always made sure to have candy on hand when the kids were around. He was notorious for showing up to recitals, the pool, or whatever the occasion may have been with plenty of candy and snacks in hand to entertain the troops.

In those first few years, it was obviously difficult to travel or attend events with three children. But to be honest, we didn't think much about it when we knew family would be present. We always knew we would have extra hands on deck to help with a kid and Uncle Rusty was never shy and always a first to volunteer to take a baby.

Rusty was a live in the moment kind of a guy. He always made those around him feel welcome. Something I will never forget is a moment which was captured on video the day the kids were born. So many of our friends and family gathered at the hospital that evening. I knew having a c-section and the likely hood that the babies would be rushed to the NICU upon their delivery, meant I wouldn't see my babies for quite some time, possibly even the following day. I had instructed Rick to take plenty of video and pictures to bring back to me.

I'm not sure who was in charge of the camera; in fact, it may have been Rusty. The video camera captures much of the first minutes of the kids life in the neo-natal unit as the nurses checked their vitals, and Rick was able to actually go in the NICU and check on them. The video also captures some of our friends and families first remarks such as how much Delaney looked just like her daddy and the typical "awws" over newborns. At some point, they began to separate the babies into separate beds to be dispersed throughout the NICU unit, according to their level of need. For whatever reason, Rick left to be with one of the babies being moved and by this time I think many of our friends and family had probably began to either go home or check on me. However, you can hear Rusty telling someone that he thinks one person should stay and keep an eye on each of the babies, because he didn't feel that any one of them should be left alone. This is a moment that just always lingers in my heart and means more to me than one can imagine. In a moment when I couldn't look after my babies, he thought to watch over them for me.