Christmas will be a bit different this year

On October 18th, 2010 Andrew Edward Callegari came into this world.

On December 18th, 2010 Edward Jerome Callegari left this world.

After battling diagnosed cancer since June (I say "diagnosed" because once he got that diagnosis we all realized he had been battling the cancer for many months before), Rob's dad passed away.  The cancer made him physically weak, but his personality was unchanged until the very end.  His sense of humor, the way he would rib his family-- all of that was exactly the same.

He had been admitted to home hospice several days before he passed, so he was at home with his family and (hopefully) at peace.  He was buried on the 21st in Shreveport, Louisiana.  Rob delivered a eulogy that was simply amazing-- it expressed the love and respect we all had for Eddie while highlighting some of the more .... memorable... aspects of his life.

Wednesday, December 15th Eddies two oldest sons, Chuck and Chris were in town, and Eddies four boys sat in the room with him and recounted all their stories growing up with Eddie as a dad.  Listening to them talk, I realized it was NOT worth it to make a bet with Eddie- he ate everything from dog food to June bugs when his boys bet him he wouldn't.  And each of them swallowed their pride and their disgusting object of choice when he did.  Every so often you would see the faintest smile on Eddie's face, and I hope he enjoyed the walk down memory lane as much as the boys did.

Drew and I drove to Shreveport with my parents, and D was simply amazing.  We only stopped once, and that was because I insisted on a Starbucks before we hit the road at 6:30AM.  I sat in the back with Drew and gave him a bottle when he got hungry, and he stayed quiet on the 4+ hour rides up and back and during the funeral.  He was a bit off schedule that day, but it was worth it to have him there and in a good mood.

Eddie, we love you and will miss you terribly.  Right now we are all so happy you are not in pain anymore I'm not sure we fully recognize the extent of our loss.  But you have touched us all, and we are sure pieces of you will live on in your namesake.