Dear Stuart

Someone very special to me has passed away. He was like a father to me. He walked me down the aisle in the place of my dad. His wife, Connie sat where my mom would have sat and their daughter Emily was my flower girl. I had been their nanny in Connecticut and what a blessing to be part of a family so full of love and laughter. They opened their hearts and their home to a girl from North Dakota and a lasting bond was formed.

Dear Stuart,
I hope you knew how much I loved you. How very much I love you. I hope you knew how much our time together meant to me. You were my first glimpse of what a husband and father should be. I was amazed at your patience and your kindness and your unconditional love for me. You were sweet, funny, understanding and so very wise. I could turn to you and you would be there. I knew that. I called you to ask if you would walk me down the aisle and you cried and said how honored you would be to do that for me. I will never forget your smiling face as I walked to you and you took my arm and we made that short journey(it seemed long!) toward my future husband. I was so very happy and so very proud to be with you on that special day. I thank you for that. I think of you and remember watching you as Emily put your hair up in curlers or you played tea party with her or danced in the kitchen. What wondrous love is this??!! You filled my heart with longing and I prayed to find someone who knew your ways.
And now, my dear Stuart, I must say goodbye and I'm not sure how. I know that you are seeing the face of God right now and I can only praise Him for that! How my heart aches that when I am out in Connecticut again, you will not be there. Yours is the voice I so want to hear and the smile I so want to see and the hug I so want to feel. I grieve with hope that someday I will do all of those things in heaven for eternity. I will not say goodbye.
I will see you again!!

I love you, Stuart and I miss you!
Carla