My Sweet Uncle Rodger
It's taken me some time to write this post, but I wanted to share with you some of my memories of one of my most special family member Rodger Decker Waters.
So things have been just a little crazy at the MacDonald Farm. It all started about a month ago. Just like most families the kids have been keeping us busy with all manner of activities. Then my calling was keeping me busy with what seemed like a flurry of health and sickness issues in our family ward. Then I received a call from my family that after a fairly long battle with Alzheimer's my sweet little Uncle Rodger had slipped into a coma and wasn't doing well at all. We knew that the time was coming soon and then needed to start preparing for another trip down to Las Vegas. Rodger stayed in the coma for 2 days and then peacefully slipped away on October 10th, one week after his 55th birthday. We packed up our car & the kids and drove to Las Vegas to be with our family. That Saturday was his funeral. Words can't describe the feelings of that day, but I will never forget the spiritual experience I felt on that day. My Uncle Rodger LOVED having his entire family around him, and when all 80 of us could get together he would beam with that beautiful smile from ear to ear and say "my whole family". So what a wonderful day it was when not only our entire family of 80 (minus 11) were all together but also our extended family members and ward friends came. The support and love that my grandparents received was very overwhelming and comforting at the same time. I realized even more how blessed I am to have the gospel in my life and be a part of a loving family, who love unconditionally. Rodger was such a great example of this to me. It didn't matter who you were he would greet you with a handshake and then often end with "your my buddy". When I was a teen I stayed with my grandparents often and remember many times having a date pick me up at my grandparents with the intent of my date not only meeting my family but especially my Uncle Rodg. I knew that if they could not accept him and treat him with love then I didn't plan on wasting my time with them. I loved Rodger so much and I am still so proud of him. He was a fighter and had beaten every thing that the doctor's said that he couldn't. When he was born my grandparents were told that he would probably only live to be 12, as he had numerous health issues and concerns. He outlived that diagnosis by 43 years. I remember growing up and getting a little nervous around winter time, colds, flus and pneumonia always seemed to work their way into Rodg and there were a few times that we had some real close calls and he was admitted into the hospital, but once again he fought it and came through. He was such a great dancer, I remember coming to visit my grandparents and seeing him dancing on the porch or in his room with the music blaring in his headphone and usually humming away. He was an organizer,all of his drawers contained neatly folded socks and shirts and I remember him spending hours folding a pile of laundry just right so they fit neatly in the drawers and closets. I have so many wonderful memories of Rodg, he use to call me his sweetheart and when John and I got engaged he was very upset, when ever we would bring it up the fact that we were getting married he would say "nope" although he loved John very much too and called him his buddy, I think that he didn't like the fact that I would be moving away and there would be some changes. He wasn't much for change and had a routine for pretty much everything he did. He loved Ovaltine. I remember eating breakfast with him in the morning and he would have his nice and warm ovaltine cup, then he switched to Pepsi and we would often find a few stashed in secret hiding places, just in case he felt like having another one, even though grandma and grandpa had reduced him to 1 a day. Later that changed to chocolate pudding, if he was having a bad day or in a bad mood for some reason, if you offered him a chocolate pudding he would brighten right up. When I was younger I remember Rodg spending lots of time on puzzles and door stops (when we use to get the store catalogs, the really large ones with more than 100 pages from JcPenneys, Sears etc, he would recycle them by neatly folding every single page just perfectly to form what looked like a tree. (I really wish I had one of those now)
I also remember all of us cousins visiting grandma and grandpa's we would go into Rodg's rooms and get a variety of records Captain and Tenille, Devo, Grease, Pat Benatar and make up a dance and show for our parents, Rodg would often attend and even some times join in. Rodger loved to talk about his sweetheart Valery Harper (no, not the movie star) but a girl he had met while attending school in Las Vegas. He had such a crush on her and said that someday they were going to get married. As he grew older he would often talk about getting married and how his wife was in heaven waiting for him.
Rodger loved to talk Chinese (what he thought was), we would all chime in and start a conversation with him saying "chin chow chang" and he would respond back in his own chinese language, we would all get laughing and Rodg would start laughing so hard it would scare us sometimes and he would have say "Rodg breathe, breathe" his eye's would tear up from laughing so hard and his smile would be from ear to ear. Jaidyn and Rodg one day had such a conversation in the backseat of our Suburban while on a trip to Southern Utah, they were being so silly talking nonsense and laughing the entire time. Jaidyn loved him so much and when she remembers him she remembers his silly jokes the most.
I am so thankful for my sweet little Uncle Rodger, the many things that he taught me, strength, perseverance, patience, unconditional love, laughing at the simple things in life (like talking Chinese to each other), and the importance of family. What a blessing it was to be a part of his life. There is no denying that he is a chosen child of God, that he was sent to us to be an example of all of those things that we should be, to remind us of how we should live our lives and especially enjoy every passing day. I have no doubt that he is on the right hand of God with Jesus at his side and his beautiful heavenly wife that he has so long waited for. I know that he is watching each of us and helping us to be guided on the the right paths to be with him as well so that "we" Rodger's "whole family" can be together again.
So things have been just a little crazy at the MacDonald Farm. It all started about a month ago. Just like most families the kids have been keeping us busy with all manner of activities. Then my calling was keeping me busy with what seemed like a flurry of health and sickness issues in our family ward. Then I received a call from my family that after a fairly long battle with Alzheimer's my sweet little Uncle Rodger had slipped into a coma and wasn't doing well at all. We knew that the time was coming soon and then needed to start preparing for another trip down to Las Vegas. Rodger stayed in the coma for 2 days and then peacefully slipped away on October 10th, one week after his 55th birthday. We packed up our car & the kids and drove to Las Vegas to be with our family. That Saturday was his funeral. Words can't describe the feelings of that day, but I will never forget the spiritual experience I felt on that day. My Uncle Rodger LOVED having his entire family around him, and when all 80 of us could get together he would beam with that beautiful smile from ear to ear and say "my whole family". So what a wonderful day it was when not only our entire family of 80 (minus 11) were all together but also our extended family members and ward friends came. The support and love that my grandparents received was very overwhelming and comforting at the same time. I realized even more how blessed I am to have the gospel in my life and be a part of a loving family, who love unconditionally. Rodger was such a great example of this to me. It didn't matter who you were he would greet you with a handshake and then often end with "your my buddy". When I was a teen I stayed with my grandparents often and remember many times having a date pick me up at my grandparents with the intent of my date not only meeting my family but especially my Uncle Rodg. I knew that if they could not accept him and treat him with love then I didn't plan on wasting my time with them. I loved Rodger so much and I am still so proud of him. He was a fighter and had beaten every thing that the doctor's said that he couldn't. When he was born my grandparents were told that he would probably only live to be 12, as he had numerous health issues and concerns. He outlived that diagnosis by 43 years. I remember growing up and getting a little nervous around winter time, colds, flus and pneumonia always seemed to work their way into Rodg and there were a few times that we had some real close calls and he was admitted into the hospital, but once again he fought it and came through. He was such a great dancer, I remember coming to visit my grandparents and seeing him dancing on the porch or in his room with the music blaring in his headphone and usually humming away. He was an organizer,all of his drawers contained neatly folded socks and shirts and I remember him spending hours folding a pile of laundry just right so they fit neatly in the drawers and closets. I have so many wonderful memories of Rodg, he use to call me his sweetheart and when John and I got engaged he was very upset, when ever we would bring it up the fact that we were getting married he would say "nope" although he loved John very much too and called him his buddy, I think that he didn't like the fact that I would be moving away and there would be some changes. He wasn't much for change and had a routine for pretty much everything he did. He loved Ovaltine. I remember eating breakfast with him in the morning and he would have his nice and warm ovaltine cup, then he switched to Pepsi and we would often find a few stashed in secret hiding places, just in case he felt like having another one, even though grandma and grandpa had reduced him to 1 a day. Later that changed to chocolate pudding, if he was having a bad day or in a bad mood for some reason, if you offered him a chocolate pudding he would brighten right up. When I was younger I remember Rodg spending lots of time on puzzles and door stops (when we use to get the store catalogs, the really large ones with more than 100 pages from JcPenneys, Sears etc, he would recycle them by neatly folding every single page just perfectly to form what looked like a tree. (I really wish I had one of those now)
I also remember all of us cousins visiting grandma and grandpa's we would go into Rodg's rooms and get a variety of records Captain and Tenille, Devo, Grease, Pat Benatar and make up a dance and show for our parents, Rodg would often attend and even some times join in. Rodger loved to talk about his sweetheart Valery Harper (no, not the movie star) but a girl he had met while attending school in Las Vegas. He had such a crush on her and said that someday they were going to get married. As he grew older he would often talk about getting married and how his wife was in heaven waiting for him.
Rodger loved to talk Chinese (what he thought was), we would all chime in and start a conversation with him saying "chin chow chang" and he would respond back in his own chinese language, we would all get laughing and Rodg would start laughing so hard it would scare us sometimes and he would have say "Rodg breathe, breathe" his eye's would tear up from laughing so hard and his smile would be from ear to ear. Jaidyn and Rodg one day had such a conversation in the backseat of our Suburban while on a trip to Southern Utah, they were being so silly talking nonsense and laughing the entire time. Jaidyn loved him so much and when she remembers him she remembers his silly jokes the most.
I am so thankful for my sweet little Uncle Rodger, the many things that he taught me, strength, perseverance, patience, unconditional love, laughing at the simple things in life (like talking Chinese to each other), and the importance of family. What a blessing it was to be a part of his life. There is no denying that he is a chosen child of God, that he was sent to us to be an example of all of those things that we should be, to remind us of how we should live our lives and especially enjoy every passing day. I have no doubt that he is on the right hand of God with Jesus at his side and his beautiful heavenly wife that he has so long waited for. I know that he is watching each of us and helping us to be guided on the the right paths to be with him as well so that "we" Rodger's "whole family" can be together again.
Comments
I have missed reading your blog. I am glad that you are back! I hope you had a wonderful Birthday! love ya much!
Thanks
love you
angie