Eulogy for Barbie

I'm not much of a writer, I openly admit that and don't apologize for it. I don't make a living off of this and I don't expect to it's a hobby. This weekend one of the most wonderful people I'd ever had the pleasure to meet passed away, and I really feel like I want to write something for her. I'm going to just post a couple stories about my memories with Barbara Ann Wherry, just you know the form my grief is taking. So first let me tell you a little about Barb and our relationship. I took her middle daughter, Danielle to prom. Danielle's intentions were to hook me up with her friend Tygre, and she could take Tygre's date. They had worked it out before hand all on the level I swear. Either way, roughly a year later Danielle and I started dating. This was when I finally started to get to know Barb, our relationship obviously started out slow. I was dating one of her girls, and if you could say one thing about Barb, it was that she LOVED her children. There wasn't a man in the world good enough for her Danielle. Strangely, for some reason or another, I started referring to her as "Barbie." One day I simply asked "Does anyone call you Barbie?" and she responded with "Definitely NOT" So, finding myself ABSOLUTELY hilarious, I promptly began calling her barbie. This, for some reason or another, made me endearing. Thinking I could use the same method on her father I started calling him "Billy" that quickly ended, but that's another story. So, after a while I began going on family vacations with the Wherry family. While at Mackinaw Island, I was talking to Barb about pies, and how much I love pie. She asked how much, I said I could eat an entire pie, whether it be pumpkin pie, strawberry pie, blueberry pie, frankenberry pie. At this point Barb stopped me from talking and asked me "What the hell is a FrankenBerry" when she found out it was a cereal she decided she wanted to call my bluff. After she got home she concocted a recipe for FrankenBerry Pie. Apparently, Frankenberry pies are a sort of custard pie, And since I had bragged about being able to eat an entire pie the rule was I had to eat an entire Frankenberry pie. I got about 4 bites in before I wanted to vomit. This was of course recorded, and trust me I never heard the end of it. Imagine eating a pie made of cereal that I'm pretty sure hadn't been made since 1984 mixed with cream! I don't even know how she found Frankenberry, but if there's one thing I respect it's dedication to a joke, she probably had to order the Frankenberry from Japan! Family wedding - Can't remember which family member got married, but we danced to this song. I didn't know this at the time but it was her favorite. Bill was not able to be there, danielle told me afterwards that meant a lot to her because she loved that song. Same wedding I got her only son plastered and he fell outta the van after we got home and vomited on the front lawn.....can't say that she was to happy about that. Again, that one's another story for another time. After I went back to school to attempt to get in to Vet school, I really struggled early on, I busted my ass for this one test and got my grade back at 1030 on a saturday night. I got a 98.8, and I was absolutely thrilled. Danielle was over, she was excited, I called my mom to tell her. My mom had been asleep for a long time, she had been sick that week so I woke her up and the call was really brief. Don't' get me wrong, my mom is Awesome and a wonderful mother. She was tired and me waking her up was more confusing than anything. Also since I'm very quiet I never told her how much I was struggling in this class. Needless to say, I was a little upset that my mom wasn't screaming, I just wanted This reaction.

and it was closer to this

Danielle encouraged me to call her mom. I did, she talked to me for half an hour, by the time I hung up the phone I felt incredible. I'm pretty sure that she was more proud of me than I've ever been. That was Barb for you, if she cared about you and you were excited about something she was just as, if not more excited. Danielle and I split up, I was in a real rough patch, work was awful, I was working constantly and was just stressing myself out, since I was so stressed I stopped sleeping, I went to my doctor she put me on certain meds that made my life harder and started to drive me crazy. So, keep in mind, I was no longer with her daughter, and had REALLY hurt her daughter. She still sent me a card just to say "I know you're struggling keep your head up you can do" I never even thanked her for that card. I was honestly so worried that she was disappointed in me that I didn't open it for weeks after receiving it, but in true Barb fashion, she never judged, she just cared, and despite the fact that I wasn't a member of the family she loved me and wanted me to know she loved me. Sunday May 6th at 230 am I got a call from danielle, she told me her mom had a heart attack and through the sobs I kept waiting for the "I'm on my way to the hospital, she's resting" but that never came. Jim Henson once said that his goal in life was to leave the world a little better than he found it. If I've met one person in my life who could truly say that the world was better because they were in it, It's Barbara Ann Wherry. My life was better because she was in it, and I know that anyone who met her could say the same. She was truly a person who never thought of herself, and she will be forever in my heart. I love you Barbie, you will be missed.