Wednesday, August 7, 2013

My Best Friend...

We vowed to be together in every kind of weather.
Through rain or shine, we would stay together.
We went through nature of all kinds
and found the third chord to binds.
Without our faith in our Creator
our love could not be any greater.
Neither you or I promised to perfection, 
but we know that God planned our wedded connection.
He took our sunshine and raindrops combined
and made a rainbow that some sadly never find. 
Some leave without looking through eyes of hope
not knowing that three chords must make the rope.
When all three are held strong in matrimony
In all weather this rainbow they will see.
For without the rain we will never grow
and this bow of color we will never know.
We held on tighter when the waves began to pound
and lowered our anchor to reach solid ground.
He is the rock on which we hung tight
in the brightest day or darkest night.
He was the light that we followed
when others were being swallowed
by the tide that changed it's course
and is full of hate and hungry for divorce.
We were strong till the end
because we called Him our friend.
There is no other possible solution 
that could have given us this perfect resolution, 
but to give credit to the strongest chord
the One and Only Savior and Lord.
We remembered the promises we made to Him from the start...
We vowed to be together till death do us part.
Just as He planned a day for our lives together to cleave
He planned also the day from here you would leave...
________
This end has come where you part from here
and go home to be where the weather is clear.
There is no thunder or stormy blast there, 
just gentle breezes and light that is fair.
The grass needs no rain to keep it growing green
just the light of the Lord to give it luminous gleam.
He has taken you now to this beautiful place
that one day I'll go too and will see again your face.
The flowers will grow reaching out for Him
singing praises, psalms, and a hallelujah hymn.
We will not have to worry for what kind of weather
for that third chord that bound us together
will be the bright loving light that will never sever.
I will meet you there my love when he calls us back together
and we will walk hand and hand and talk about Heaven's weather.
I love and miss you Shannon.
Till we meet again, 
Your wife and best friend, 
Tabitha

THE MAN
Shannon Thomas Seaton
November 9, 1977-July 17, 2013
A man of faith, a loving father, a wonderful husband, a good son, a passionate teacher.
Shannon 

Shannon was my best friend in the world. He had a lot of sides to him that I was so blessed to see. His favorite kind of animals were hard calloused types like the rhinos ans elephants. I think that was because that was how he wanted others to see him. He wanted to appear strong and intimidating on the outside. But inside he was a soft sentimental man.

He got so excited when he saw this Sippin' Syrup truck in H- town and wanted to pledge allegiance to his hard core rapper side. Ha ha. 
This other picture of him is when he restored and painted a vintage trailer we hauled from our first house to our new home in order to make it an art trailer for me to work in. He even hooked up air for the summer so I would be comfortable! I never did work in it though... beccause I would rather just work along side of him in the house in our His & Her Lazy boys. Loking back now, I am so glad I never did. We eventually turned it into a Barbie trailer for the girls and he lovingly and supportively moved my art space inside. 



                                      
Origami cranes and sock dolls? Not what you would normally think of when you thought of
Shannon Seaton... 
But he did them with me cause he was my creative friend and mate. He liked to create side-by- side with me at times. These were some of my most favorite memories together because it is how we fell in love working creatively together long ago in Mask & Puppetry class at SHSU...

This was taken on one of date nights at Kitchen's... He is pretending to smoke.
So don't be alarmed.
My cutie at another Kitchens date night. 

He loved Bar-B-Q.
He wanted to try all of the to[ picks on the Texas Monthly Magazine.
I've said if he could have changed one thing about me, it would be that I would have shared in his passionate affair with BBQ...


He was just a meaty man... "GO MEAT!"




 One of my favorite things about Shannon was the silly things he would do to make his girls happy. For example: The picture below shows this weird white rectangle that was a random piece of trash accumulated at our home that somehow got turned into a dental guide by the imagination of our daughter Maisy. He let her give him a "examination" to keep her happy.... These are the moments only the fortunate family witnessed.



and this one of him wearing a necklace made out of toy beads made by our jewelry designer daughter... Maisy. This was taken his last week here.



He painted rooms colors for me apon special request. He trusted my decisions as a crazy artist no matter what. He wanted to make me happy... And he succeeded. This is him painting our 2nd daughter Madelynn's nursery before her arrival...



I went through this crocheted creature cup cozie obsession where I made almost everyone in the family a cup warmer. I made him pose for these photos so I could do a special blog post. I am so glad he did.



Here he is at Tyler zoo in front of his favorite animals. I wonder what he was thinking...
We looked forward to working on the Miss Mineola Girl's Scholarship Pageant every Summer. We worked as a team painting, cutting, and glittering. Yes, Shannon glittered! 


Maisy has beeneyeballing this dollhouse kit at " Hoppy Loppy" ( how she said hobby lobby) for almost a year. Shannon got it for her on her 6th Birthday and they were building it together. Sadly the shingles never got done. 


Shannon was very excited about planting a garden with Maisy. They had worked for 2 years trying to perfect tomatoe growing, but ironically... Neither of them liked the fruit. 
I guess they were doing it for me.
Shannon was a very supportive husband that went out of his way to spoil me and always make me feel loved and appreciated. 


                                                                        THE DAD
Shannon, Madelynn, And Maisy,



Maisy was truly Daddy's little girl. Here they are building a gingerbread home and collecting tickets from Pizza Palace.




Forget Zack... it was Shannon the Lego Maniac! Building Legos with the girls was a long intimate process. Shannon was a child at heart in many ways. Buying Legos for the girls was just a good excuse for him to sprawl on the floor and be an adventurous and maticulous architect. He definately passed this genius trait down to both our girls... I am still stepping on those legos not seen by the naked eye at clean up time... OUCH!

Swinging the girls on the back yard swing set that he put together from the box. 
I have never seen him get so angry about anything before in his life than he did at this building project. But, it was all for love.



Shannon with Maddy at her first Mineola Jackets football game. I always loved seeing him hold her because they looked so much alike,




Please forgive this picture of Shannon with the girls (gun fingers to head). But, it makes me laugh so hard inside. It was just one of those days on family vacation.  It's was hot at the cattle show in the Texas StockYards and we were having to wait for it to start... the girls were being totally cra-cra!
I had to take a picture to remember his comical patience through the misery.
We very often used comic relief to help us through parenthood and our marriage.
It is what kept us living... was laughing through it.


Stock Yards, Spring Break Vacation 2013





Shannon always pushed a cart full of girls on our shopping outings. There is nothing more attractive than a man that can handle his girls In public! Seriously...

He was always so sweet to help entertain the girls when we went out to eat at restaurants. 
He was not above holding a Barbie, coloring a kid's menu, or wipey swiping a dirty baby face.


May Days 2013 and Galveston Aquarium




Daddy and Maisy in Galveston. He always wanted to move there when we got old and retired so we could be close to Maisy as she studied to be an underwater veteranarian. 




We were starting the vacation tradition of photographing the family when we went to my most favorite of all childhood vacation spots
 Wimbetley, Texas...


I am joyfull to be blessed with these memories of sharing a little bit of Heaven with my Shannon.
Now he is able to see the entire thing.





Here they are in WImberley, our last family vacation.
June 2013



Shannon loved napping with his girls...

                                              


This was the girls with thier daddy at the Mineola Train Station. We always watned to ride AMTRAC to go back to the Hill Country.
He loved Mineola and all it's history. He was always on EBAY triying to snag up some vintage postcard or picture from Mineola's past. He was a history nerd.

We always wanted ald fashioned family photos for our mantle. 
This was done in Galveston, Texas Summer 2012.



He even love his cardboard wife!

Maisy's first bike... red triycle.
Shannon just took her training wheels off her 2nd "big girl" bike the week before he left.




Shannon would always use the ketchup to draw little pictures on a dip plate for Maisy. The waitresses would always smile... And so would I.



This is a totally hilariously sweet memory...
when Maisy was little she used to have these Disney Princess mini dolls that were a pain in thr rear end to dress up,! Well, Shannon would. Frequently lay on the floor and arrange all the dresses for them to play "Sebastia's Dress Shop". Shannon would imitate Sebastian (crab from Little Mermaid) and dress up all the dolls. Eventually this game was requested so frequently by Miss Maisy that e every time he cringe! But... Like a good dad, he always would.


THE HUSBAND


I made Shannon fake drink coffee for a blog post... He hated coffee,  but loved me.

Here we are at Canton Trade days which we almost monthly attended.
We love collecting antiques: weather houses, paint by numbers, and anything that caught our eyes. I will have many memories of this shopping spot.
We loved the corny dogs and acting a little corny too!



10 years together...

This is us on the weekend of our 10 year wedding anniversary. 
Shannon surprised me with the renewing of our vows,

Thank you Lord for allowing me to have 10 awesome years married to the best man a girl could find.

After the renewing of our vows, he took me to get my nose pierced and go bowling,

We stayed the night at a bed and breakfast in Tyler and tried on hats with a stuffed stranger!



MAN OF FAITH



Shannon was shy about his faith at times. He always complimented and admired me for being brave enough to pray and speak my heart about the Lord in church and public. But, he prayed at home every night before we went to bed and we prayed before we ate. The Lord touched Shannon a month before his passing in a special way. Shannon attended tje UM Army trip with our church's youth group and came back revitalized spiritually! I was sad to be away from him for a whole week this Summer, but to see how God's hand was working in the whole scheme of faith was more than priceless.

This group of kids blessed him more than they will ever know. 
He bragged about their attitude to work for Christ without complaining or ceasing in the heat. He came home from the trip very sentimental and renewed. This lead us to many follow up conversations about our thought of Heaven and dying. God put peace in my heart before Shannon left by me knowing without a doubt that Shannon was spiritually ready to go home to Heaven.
For this I am forever great full!

HIS DREAMS...
He had an eye for beauty...
He didn't like to be in front of the camera, but he loved it behind.
He was beginning to bloom with creativity.


 
The blog he never started... going around the state to eat beans, bacon, and other random foods.
His biggest dream was to make by biggest dreams come true...
it's true, that's just how he rolled.

He loved football...

He wanted a tattoo...
There were things still left on Shannon's dream list ... Like being a photographer, traveling the world to eat BBQ, watching the Cowboys play, and getting a real tattoo,,,
But life itself is like a dream. One happy day we will wake up in the arms of our loving Father and have no worries, shame, fear, hate, or tears. These are things of the world. Things of this world will pass away, they are dust in the wind, flowers quickly fading, moith eaten and filled with rust. He is in the light of his Father singing with the angels and carefree as a child, 
I know I am changed for the better by marrying this man. I know his girls will always lve to remember his love and laugh. 

I love and miss you dearly Shannon. 
Till we meet again...











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