Yesterday was a very special day for Leighton Rose. Her Poorain & Ney Ney took her shopping for her flower girl dress she will wear in their wedding next March. They took the time to make the event all about her and it meant so much to me when I saw the smile on Leighton's face as she was being treated like a Princess. She lit up every single time she put on another dress and saw herself in the mirror. She was so giddy and excited she didn't know what to do with herself. Other groups of ladies were smiling along with us as she performed in the bridal shop. When it was time to leave Leighton pulled me over to a set of manequins dressed as a bride and groom and pointed to the groom dressed in a full tuxedo and said:
"See Mommy that is what the Conductor Man wears!'
I immediatley got chills becuase this was her trying to prove to me the story she had told me only two weeks ago was true. She has been having a visitor teaching her all about music from what she told me and I knew exactly who she was talking about.
TWO WEEKS AGO:
Leighton, Jean Paul and I were all sitting in Leighton's room on a Saturday playing together. Jean Paul was playing with the wooden puzzles while Leighton had me helping her look for the second drum stick that goes with their play drum set. I tried to tell her it was ok to play with just one stick but she was not having any of that. She insisited that she needed both. I even tried to persuade her to use the end of a wooden spoon as a replacement for the other drum stick, but that still was not good enough for her. Finally I decided to ask her why this was so important to her.
Me: Leighton why do you need both drumsticks baby? You don't even have the drum set out to play with.
Leighton: Because Mommy I need to be your "Conductor"
Me: My Conductor? Like a train conductor?
Leighton: No Mommy, a Music Conductor!
Me: How do you even know what a Music Conductor is Leighton?
Leighton: Bubba's friend in heaven taught me!
Me: Oh well that is so nice of Bubba's friend.
Once we found the second stick she went on to show me what the Conductor Man had taught her. And for over 30 minutes she made me sing and play her xylophone as she conducted me. It was precious to see her waving the sticks and tell me this means stop and this means to keep playing. It took everything I had to fight back the tears because I knew exactly who she was talking about "Mr Jamie Cappel!" He was a man who my brother and I considered a second Dad. The Cappel's lived across the street from us all of our lives. Our families did practically everything together. As kids we were always together and have stayed close ever since. My parents have traveled with them and as each of us kids gets married and has kids we have all been included in each others events. There is not to many memories I have of growing up that do not include the Cappel's in them. And boy are they some good memories. My Dad was always the one to expose us to fun and exciting indoor things and Mr. Jamie was always the one to show us and teach us the outdoor things. And even though he loved being on the water and outdoors his true passion was music. He managed the music store in town, taught band camps and played in an amazing band for countless gigs. My Dad would be out late coordinating weddings and Mr. Jamie would drive up just as late from playing music at those weddings. It was like we had the best of both worlds because although our families were so different we blended together perfectly.
With all the special moments I shared with him a few stand out.
- him teaching me how to knee board and staying out on the water for as long as we all wanted to practice
- him letting us wash and play in the boat for hours as it sat in their driveway after a long weekend on the water
- him never getting tired of eating rice and gravy that Mrs. Tina cooked for him almost daily
- him sitting at the piano in their front room for hours playing song after song
- him always being so excited each summer to teach the young kids at band camp
- him never raising his voice to us..... EVER that I can remember
- him dancing with me at my engagement announcement party and for the first time out loud him telling me he was proud of me (even though I have always known it in my heart)
- him playing for my wedding day and making sure every song I wanted was perfect
- on my wedding day after he played Brent & I's first dance him leaning over his instrument to give me a kiss
- when we learned of Braxton being sick him trying to face me without crying
- after Braxton passed him trying to find the words to tell me but he couldn't and he seemed to shy away from me, but I knew it was because he didn't know how to try and make it all better for me
- how from that moment on he hugged me in a whole new way every time he saw me, it was a little longer and a little tighter and it spoke all the words he couldn't say out loud
- when he was diagnosed with cancer how he was driven to overcome it
- when the cancer attacked harder and now it was my turn to tell him what he meant to me but I couldn't find the words, but he understood why.
The list is endless but I could never speak of him enough to explain how amazing he was to my family. Standing outside at the cemetery as we laid him to rest I remember Brent telling Ross (his son) that finally he was with our Braxton in heaven free of pain. And that was beyond Brent's normal comfort level so I knew he believed that was exactly where he was just as I did. So when Leighton told me of the Conductor Man that was Bubba's friend in heaven I knew she had no way of just making this up. When I told my Mom the very next day of Leighton's visitor she immediately had tears in her eyes and said to me "Do you know today is the anniversary of the day Mr. Jamie entered heaven?" We both had chills now. I truly believe in angels and I believe even more they visit children because of their innocence. And when Leighton pointed to that mannequin in the tux at the bridal shop I believed it even more. How would she know that a Conductor Man dresses in a black tux? It's because he visited her and is teaching her all the things he taught us that's how! I pray he continues to teach her always. But more than ever I now have this beautiful image of him dressed to the nines in his black tuxedo standing on the clouds in heaven teaching all of the baby angels how music is made. It isn't to far fetched because it is exactly what he loved to do here while we were blessed to be with him. And I guarantee you my Braxton is on the front row with stars in his eyes in awe of him just as I was growing up.
Me: Leighton why do you need both drumsticks baby? You don't even have the drum set out to play with.
Leighton: Because Mommy I need to be your "Conductor"
Me: My Conductor? Like a train conductor?
Leighton: No Mommy, a Music Conductor!
Me: How do you even know what a Music Conductor is Leighton?
Leighton: Bubba's friend in heaven taught me!
Me: Oh well that is so nice of Bubba's friend.
Once we found the second stick she went on to show me what the Conductor Man had taught her. And for over 30 minutes she made me sing and play her xylophone as she conducted me. It was precious to see her waving the sticks and tell me this means stop and this means to keep playing. It took everything I had to fight back the tears because I knew exactly who she was talking about "Mr Jamie Cappel!" He was a man who my brother and I considered a second Dad. The Cappel's lived across the street from us all of our lives. Our families did practically everything together. As kids we were always together and have stayed close ever since. My parents have traveled with them and as each of us kids gets married and has kids we have all been included in each others events. There is not to many memories I have of growing up that do not include the Cappel's in them. And boy are they some good memories. My Dad was always the one to expose us to fun and exciting indoor things and Mr. Jamie was always the one to show us and teach us the outdoor things. And even though he loved being on the water and outdoors his true passion was music. He managed the music store in town, taught band camps and played in an amazing band for countless gigs. My Dad would be out late coordinating weddings and Mr. Jamie would drive up just as late from playing music at those weddings. It was like we had the best of both worlds because although our families were so different we blended together perfectly.
With all the special moments I shared with him a few stand out.
- him teaching me how to knee board and staying out on the water for as long as we all wanted to practice
- him letting us wash and play in the boat for hours as it sat in their driveway after a long weekend on the water
- him never getting tired of eating rice and gravy that Mrs. Tina cooked for him almost daily
- him sitting at the piano in their front room for hours playing song after song
- him always being so excited each summer to teach the young kids at band camp
- him never raising his voice to us..... EVER that I can remember
- him dancing with me at my engagement announcement party and for the first time out loud him telling me he was proud of me (even though I have always known it in my heart)
- him playing for my wedding day and making sure every song I wanted was perfect
- on my wedding day after he played Brent & I's first dance him leaning over his instrument to give me a kiss
- when we learned of Braxton being sick him trying to face me without crying
- after Braxton passed him trying to find the words to tell me but he couldn't and he seemed to shy away from me, but I knew it was because he didn't know how to try and make it all better for me
- how from that moment on he hugged me in a whole new way every time he saw me, it was a little longer and a little tighter and it spoke all the words he couldn't say out loud
- when he was diagnosed with cancer how he was driven to overcome it
- when the cancer attacked harder and now it was my turn to tell him what he meant to me but I couldn't find the words, but he understood why.
The list is endless but I could never speak of him enough to explain how amazing he was to my family. Standing outside at the cemetery as we laid him to rest I remember Brent telling Ross (his son) that finally he was with our Braxton in heaven free of pain. And that was beyond Brent's normal comfort level so I knew he believed that was exactly where he was just as I did. So when Leighton told me of the Conductor Man that was Bubba's friend in heaven I knew she had no way of just making this up. When I told my Mom the very next day of Leighton's visitor she immediately had tears in her eyes and said to me "Do you know today is the anniversary of the day Mr. Jamie entered heaven?" We both had chills now. I truly believe in angels and I believe even more they visit children because of their innocence. And when Leighton pointed to that mannequin in the tux at the bridal shop I believed it even more. How would she know that a Conductor Man dresses in a black tux? It's because he visited her and is teaching her all the things he taught us that's how! I pray he continues to teach her always. But more than ever I now have this beautiful image of him dressed to the nines in his black tuxedo standing on the clouds in heaven teaching all of the baby angels how music is made. It isn't to far fetched because it is exactly what he loved to do here while we were blessed to be with him. And I guarantee you my Braxton is on the front row with stars in his eyes in awe of him just as I was growing up.
No comments:
Post a Comment