When I Get Where I’m Going, Brad Paisley & Dolly Parton
When I was on the Coast late last week I noticed two disposable cameras in a drawer. I happened to know that those cameras had been there a long time. I grabbed them and brought them back with me to Monroe. I took them last Sunday afternoon to Walgreens for development.
I haven’t developed film in a long time … having started using a digital camera some time back. I wasn’t sure what was recorded on the film. But there was a chance that there were pictures of John Robert to be found there.
When I went to the store I paid for both rolls, and then opened them up in the store. I was reminded why I stopped using film … about 90% of the pictures are either blurry or not worth paper they’re printed on. But there was that one picture… a group picture … and there was John Robert’s smiling face.
It was July of 2006. Will Collins was our summer youth minister. He, along with Ocean Springs youth minister Trent Bryant, planned a trip to Ocoee River. The guides and hosts were Big Frog Expeditions. Maggy I were celebrating an anniversary and volunteered to drive the church bus to get the kids to and from Tennessee. I believe I took the picture … which is so precious for a few reasons. One, it was one of the highlights of John Robert’s life. He had a great time and loved the people who were along with him. Two, because some of the most influential people in John Robert’s faith journey are in that picture … Will, Joel Jordan, Jesse Bosarge. Three, because John loved the others in that picture with all his heart … Lanni, Britney, Haley, another Britney, Amanda … it was a great trip.
And not to mention the tick. A few weeks after the trip John started running fever. A few days after that he broke out in spots all over his body. The doctor took two hours, consultations with fellow doctors, looking in his books … and finally asked John Robert if he had been on any trips. To the mountains. Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever was the diagnosis. It was quickly cleared up.
Anyhow I went out into the parking lot and sat in his truck and wept. Even in my sorrow at missing him so much I was thankful that he had that week in the mountains … that he spent that much time with such great friends … and that we have a picture with a great smile.
The second roll… well… it was an envelope with pictures that didn’t belong to me. Whoever ended up with my pictures brought them back…nothing there to be excited about.
There are no more disposable cameras lying around the house. I doubt we’ll run across any more pictures of him. The last picture has been taken. Even if we lost them all the image of his smile … the sound of his laughter … will forever remain in our hearts.
I do not have my digital camera here with me (Maggy has it on the Coast) … but maybe soon I’ll take a picture of the picture and post it here.
thanks for reading,
johndobbs
Still weeping with you…
les ferguson
25 Sep 08 at 11:13 pm
Hello Mr. John,
You do not know me and I do not know you, but my heart has ached for you and your wife since you lost your son. I have filled out to leave you a comment many times and not submitted it. I felt you didn’t need a stranger bothering you. I am not going to bother you know, besides asking you to add my dad to your prayer list. He was diagnosed with terminal cancer on 8/8/08. This has been a very hard few months for us. I am an only child and an extreme daddy’s girl. I am married with two children and they are the 4th and 5th loves of his life after my mom and me. It is breaking his heart now, because he can’t pick them up because the cancer is eating them from the inside out and if they broke, they would never heal….this has been so hard for him… Anyways, if you would please say a prayer for him, and know I pray for you and your wife daily. His name is Durell. We live in Moss Point. Thanks and God Bless!!
Jennifer
25 Sep 08 at 11:17 pm
John, Brittany recieved a copy of the pictures today she was so happy to get them, thank you John. She said she remembered how sick John was on the way home she misses all the long talks they would have just about every night she said she could tell him anything she said there would never be another John Robert .We miss him greatly. love,Julia
Julia W.
25 Sep 08 at 11:52 pm
John, I lost a cousin when he was 17, and I remember now how valuable those photos are – I dont know why…but I will look through all the pics we took and video to see if John Robert is in any of them (not that we had time to take pics, but Brianna and Abby took a few!) and send them on… why dont you ask others to do the same in your blog, I know there have to be a lot of pictures you havent seen out there. God Bless you and Maggie…rest in his loving arms whenever you need to. Margo
Margo
26 Sep 08 at 5:31 am
Thank you Les.
Jennifer, I will pray for your dad. I’m so sorry you are experiencing the pain of loss … but also watching your father suffer. Keep your hope and trust in God who never changes … even when we do not know the answers, He is the answer.
Julia, I’m so glad they arrived. (Sorry I mis-spelled Brittany’s name!) I am glad they were friends….very close.
Margo, that’s a good idea I haven’t thought about. Thank you. You are a blessing.
Love to all of you (and even to those who didn’t comment! I read many blogs without commenting too.)
John Dobbs
26 Sep 08 at 7:44 am
Sending love and prayers…
Tim Archer
26 Sep 08 at 7:50 am
I think an unexpected picture of John is a great gift. Even though it has sad parts, too. I’m sure you see little “gifts” everyday.
That Girl
26 Sep 08 at 8:36 am
Always a blessing to see our precious John Roberts face.
Mom and Dad
26 Sep 08 at 8:48 am
You reminded me of the time just after my Dad has passed away. I went out to his truck and found his jacket he always wore to the races. In his pocket was a ticket stub from a local race (of the stock car variety) track. I still have the ticket stub for it reminded of all the times we shared at the races.
God bless you Bro and hang in there.
cwinwc
26 Sep 08 at 8:52 am
JD,
You are always in my thoughts and prayers brother.
Thank you for sharing this with us today.
I enjoyed this post.
I pray God will continue to give you the faith and strength you need to make it one day at a time.
Love you!
preacherman
26 Sep 08 at 10:40 am
Pictures are amazing gifts. They stir memories like nothing else can. God bless you all.
Keith Davis
26 Sep 08 at 10:26 pm
My heart continues to go out to you, John. As I mentioned in our conversation the other day, my thoughts and prayers are with you
-bill
26 Sep 08 at 10:47 pm
John,
I have thought of you and your family often and brought your name before the Father’s throne. Thank you for sharing such a sweet and tender event. I cannot begin to imagine the overwhelming grief of losing a child but can acknowledge and respect its pain in a person’s life.
Your picture reminds me that God’s Providence is amazing. He knows just what we need and when we need it. There was a newspaper article awhile back concerning a man in Florida. As he was walking along an inlet from the beach he saw a brown bottle with a piece of paper sealed inside. He retrieved it from the water and opened it. Inside was a note dated approximately 20 years earlier from a young boy. It simply requested the finder to contact the sender and it gave his name and address.
The man that found the note had a strange feeling about it. He had a feeling that perhaps something had happened to the boy since the time when he had written the note. When he attempted to contact him, he found that the family had moved sometime after the note was written. He kept searching because he was intrigued. After several months he located the family in Ohio (I think). He decided to go in person rather than call because he still had this feeling that something had happened to the young man.
His intuition was right. Upon contacting the family he found distraught parents. The young man had died from a motorcycle accident a few years earlier. Every year near the anniversary of his death they would become so overwhelmed with his death that it was difficult for them to function. They were unaware of their son sending the note in a bottle. But now, to see it in his own handwriting and to read it, was such an unexpected comfort and blessing.
I see the same blessing and comfort concerning your picture. God bless.
Harold ("Harry") Letson
2 Oct 08 at 12:36 pm