Blog entries tagged Eulogy

In the Spring of 2019, my hometown buddy, Mitch told me his friend was opening a restaurant in Des Moines and that it was going to be done well.

That Summer, signage started to go up in the East Village and by fall we got a look at the beautifully designed bar. It was clear that Mitch's friend was both experienced and meticulous, and we were excited to give it a shot.

As soon as Clyde's Fine Diner opened, my buddy, Thome and I went to check it out while my wife, Kari was out of town. I got the fried chicken and peas, which was something you don’t see on the menu every day and just pure comfort food. You might imagine that Kari was jealous and a little mad that I went without her, hahah... but, I brought her back in the following week. …

She was born on Valentine's Day in Southern Missouri, and had clear Southern Missouri roots.

I was her first grandchild, and we always had a special bond because of it. She often called me her "number 1,” which always made me feel a little awkward - especially around my sister and cousins... but she wasn't exactly known her social awareness, haha.

As a toddler, she and Grandpa John took me fishing in Canada, and I think that kinda kicked off what summertime meant for me growing up.

When I think about the summers of my youth, I think about Grandma Betty.

Golf

She taught me how to play the great game of Golf at a young age and beat me in about every single round that I’ve ever played with her.

I'll never forget the time that she lined …

Last night, around midnight, our dog, Benny became pretty restless. He started moving about the bedroom as if he couldn't get comfortable. This was followed by incessant panting and pacing around the house. He'd had a bit of restlessness the night before, so we didn't think anything of it at first.

But it kept up for quite a bit, so I tried to think about what was different that day. I'd kegged some homebrew earlier and spilt a bit of the filtered trub onto the floor. As he does with everything edible that falls within his range, he quickly lapped it up... and he's lapped up a bit of spilt beer before, so I didn't think anything of it. But I googled homebrew + dogs and found that hops can be very toxic for dogs. This particular …

Today, we had to say goodbye to the sweetest, most awkward, and lovable dog that I’ve ever met.

Garth was a stray that was picked up in SE Iowa in 2010 and put on doggy death row at a kill shelter. A foster home in Cedar Rapids rescued him and we adopted him soon after.

We got the privilege of hanging out with this sweet boy for nearly 11 years.

Later in life, Garth started developing lots of tumors, which eventually found their way to his pancreas and caused him to over produce insulin and cut his blood sugar to half of what it’s supposed to be. Insulinoma. We found out too late to be able to act on it in a meaningful way.

He started getting weaker and developed seizures that became more and more frequent. An episode this morning left …

Near the end of my senior year of college, I drove out to this country road to make a phone call. There was a spot on the edge of a cornfield that I always went to for important calls. It had good reception and prevented me from being interrupted by one of my crazy dorm mates.

This time, I was making a call to Marv Hardisty because I'd interviewed for a position on his team a couple weeks prior and wanted to check in. It was for my first potential, big corporate job after college and Marv would've been my boss's boss if I landed the gig.

Once Marv got on the phone, the first thing he wanted to talk about was the portfolio of work that I'd published on my personal website. He said he was impressed, but was especially interested in brooksf…

I don't even really know how to start this... But as I'm sure you all have heard, our dog Ninja died this morning at just over 5 years old.

He'd been battling what we think was Addison's disease for the past couple weeks. Addison's disease is a disorder in which his adrenal glands don't produce enough steroid hormones. This basically sent his electrolytes out of wack, causing him to lose his appetite, become very weak, etc. It all came on super fast the monday before last. He was lethargic, unresponsive, and as what I can only describe as doggy-emo. So we took him into the vet, they hooked him up to some IVs, gave him a couple shots and he bounced back to his regular self - literally overnight. We then began weaning him off of his …

Wow, what a weekend.

So, if you didn't know, Kari's grandpa, Morris Reynolds, died last Tuesday from a combination of old age and liver cancer. Whoa, right? Just jump right into it, Derek! Well, that's kind of the way it worked in real life. It just sort of snuck up on everyone... I mean, he was driving 2 weeks ago... sorta bumper cars style, but he was still driving.

That said, this weekend was full of Reynolds family time and funeral activity. As with any death, it's never a pleasant experience. The visitation is always awkward, lots of hugs with people you don't know, etc. I was pretty ok through the entire thing, but Saturday at the funeral is when it really got me. We went to breakfast at Morris's favorite breakfast spot, Midt…