He Was A Teacher

He was a teacher...  no, he didn't have any degrees, but he was a teacher none the less.

He taught us about family, ... how family extended beyond the walls of our house.  Our doors were open to many who lived with us over the years. 

He taught us about friendship... that if you owned a van, you helped ALL of your friends move at least once... without any complaints.

He taught us about discipline... often with just the look in his eyes.

He taught us about fishing...  you know the famous quote "Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day. Teach a man to fish and you feed him for a lifetime"?  Let's just say that there are more people than we can count that are being fed today because of Joe Lawrence.

He taught us about the art of story telling... he could tell a story with the best of them ...  over and over   ...    and over.  What we wouldn't do to hear one again.

He taught us about an awful lot about "what NOT to do"... in hopes that we would learn from his mistakes, which some we did, and some we didn't.

He taught us about growing up... learning to be a Dad when he was just a kid himself.

He taught us about  NOT growing up...  with his awesome sledding skills, which in turn taught us about dentistry.

He taught us about enjoying the simpler things in life...  the family vacations we had usually included a tent and camp stove.

He taught us about music... there weren't many days without music in our house.  Most of the time, he played it louder than we did.

He taught us about growing a beard... enough said.

He taught us about love...  he never had a problem showing his love for us, hugging and kissing his grown boys and their families, and we're thankful for that.

With his life, he taught us about himself... which taught us how to be better people.

He will be missed more than words can say, but the lessons we learned will undoubtedly influence many more.