family

Chris Knight's avatar

I needed this trip, severely.  Looking in the mirror this morning, I barely recognize the guy who set off eleven days ago on what became over a week in Florida.  It’s not the face of the Chris who’s spent most of the past several months in grief over the passing of a parent, or in frustration of other things that have tested my perseverance.

Sometimes you need to step away from things and give God some elbow room to work His way on your life.  I have been so focused on writing my book and the hard wall of progress I’ve been hitting since late February, so trapped by the four walls of my living room and too many times bouts of depression, that those had become the only substantial elements of my life.  And that’s not right at all.

For sake of myself, the book, everything… I had to ...

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Here I am, the day after Christmas 2014.  And I’m only writing this because a lot of people were praying for me yesterday, that I might get through this holiday.

Grief is hard enough already.  It’s especially heartbreaking when it comes so close to the holiday season and you see that empty chair at the table.  It’s not something that I haven’t experienced already.  Mom passed away three days after Christmas three years ago, and because of that there was already a shadow cast over Christmas and New Year’s.  On my 26th birthday we buried my grandmother: something that I’m always reminded of on that day of the year.

This year has been more excruciating than anything I was prepared for.  Because it’s so fresh.  Because it’s only now sinking in that Dad is gone and is not coming back, no matter how many times I keep expecting him to ...

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Yesterday was supposed to have be one of the saddest days of my entire
life. Yet here I am after Dad’s funeral and I cannot help but
feel like the most blessed, most overwhelmed with joy, most hopeful
man in the world.

Mom and Dad’s grave site,
the morning after Dad’s funeral

This entire time, I believe Dad would have felt
honored by every aspect of it. Anita and I had Dad dressed in his
denim bib overalls, with a red plaid flannel workshirt beneath and in
his right hand, just as it was often poised in life, his smoking pipe.
He had often told Anita that if she had him wearing a tie he would come
back to haunt her, LOL. Last night during the visitation we had a table
set up displaying some of the many knives that he hand-made over the
years. That was my aunt’s idea, ...

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The thought this morning was that I would post Dad’s obituary on my blog after it had been published on the Wilkerson Funeral Home website.  But the staff at Wilkerson has rendered such an astounding service during this time of our need… well, that and the page they did for Dad is so spot-on perfect (and totally in keeping with his character)… that their tribute to Dad sincerely and earnestly does merit a visit to its link.

There will be a video slideshow uploaded later.  Anita and I spent most of yesterday evening and some of this morning combing through hundreds of photos of Dad, finding a select few to represent his very varied and wonderful life.  There were some that I hadn’t even seen before, including a couple of he and I when I was only one year old.  Anyway, the video slideshow will be up soon.  ...

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It has been an unconscionably long time since my blog has seen a photo of either Lauryn or Rachael.  And some of you have been whining and crying for one all along.  Oddly enough they’ve all been guys.  Whenever one of these two cousins of mine have had their picture on this site, the traffic seems to ramp up considerably.  Funny, that…

Y’all owe Lauryn herself some thanks for this, boys!  Last night her grandmother, my aunt Billie (who also demonstrates how this family is unfairly blessed with lovely ladies) posted a photo of Lauryn and Rachael on Facebook.  I commented (not for the first time) how beautiful they are and a few minutes later Lauryn replied…

“Lol, Did we make the blog? …It’s been awhile ;-)”

Awright, she asked for it!!  And Rachael seems to be having fun with this too (but have a care fellas: she’s ...

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So for the past several weeks your friend and humble blogger has been busy.

How busy? I was at ActionFest in Asheville two weeks ago, and I still haven’t had time to do a decent write-up about it (including pictures of me with Tom Berenger and a few other folks). Heck, I’m dying to tell y’all about just Solomon Kane (easily the finest and most faithful adaptation of a Robert E. Howard character I’ve yet beheld).

That’s all coming soon, I think, Along with a piece that I’ve been wrestling with for some time now, and now is the time to finally unload it.

But since a number of nice e-mails have come in asking “where the heck are you Chris?!” and since it’s been too gosh-darn long since I’ve posted any more photos of the lovely ladies in my family, I thought I’d make up for it.

Want to ...

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Chris Knight's avatar

Today was a milestone, of sorts, in my life. It was eleven weeks ago today that we had Mom’s funeral.

The grave marker was put in place today.

And now, for the first time in my life, I know what it is to gaze upon the tombstone of a parent…

The plastic covering is to protect the cement until it fully cures. It’s not visible in the photo, but the base of the marker has the names of my sister and I, noting that we are Ruby and Robert’s children. In the background you can also see the tombstone belonging to my grandmother and grandfather.

I still haven’t broken down and cried like I had expected to long before now. Was it because I was there for her at the end, as she slipped away from us? Did that make it easier to accept her passing?

Or could it be ...

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So it’s been a few months since my ravishingly beautiful cousin Lauryn got married. She had been The Knight Shift’s official pin-up girl for a number of years and she did a magnificent job… and we all wish her well 🙂

But don’t y’all think that this place could use some more loveliness from my family? ‘Cuz I sure can’t offer any of my own!

So then, here is The Knight Shift’s new pin-up girl: amazingly sweet, talented, beautiful, and one of the most wonderful young ladies in the Lord that I have had the pleasure of knowing: Rachael!

I know what some of y’all of the masculine persuasion are already thinking… and I hate to be the bearer of bad news but Rachael is taken, fellas. Not only that but her father (I was the ringbearer for her parents’ wedding years ago) is like eight feet tall or ...

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The array of flowers that were placed atop Mom’s casket. The two pink ones are meant to represent her two children…

The teddy bear that my sister Anita placed inside Mom’s casket on the morning of the funeral. I enclosed a letter: the last piece of writing that I ever did for my mother.

The casket at the graveside, immediately following the service…

The final resting place of Mom’s earthly body, after the grave had been filled…

...

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