08.07.07
Blue Daze
This morning started like any other, grabbing a cup of caffiene, letting the dog out and working in the shop. I stepped outside for a moment to feed Dennis and was amazed at my Blue Daze. After 4 years… never have they looked this beautiful!
It brought to mind something that has been lurking in my mind for several weeks now, my favorite brother-in-law. He passed away on 7/23/07 and like me, blue was his favorite color.
I met Kennan Finke a year or two before he married my sister, Pat.
Wedding day 11/3/2001
I never really got to know him well until they began to set up house in Zephyrhills, FL. At around 45 years of age… they were soul mates and acted like a couple of kids. I suppose after living a year or so on a boat they dreamed of nothing but space for days on end, because space was what they bought and….their first “animal”.
Kennan with Sarah and Leslie (2000)?
If I were to describe Kennan in a few words…it would be to say “he’s a big man with a tender heart”. But that description just scratches the surface.
Contrary to what his older brother might say, Kennan was handy to have around. He took the above picture, and changed it to what you see below. He knew his tools and how to use them.
Fenced and cross-fenced.
Roads were built so Sarah could drive the mule.Clean, tidy and everything in it’s place and he didn’t know we were coming!
You probably have surmised that they began a new endeavor together, Crystal Springs Alpacas. Kennan ran the ranch, Pat did all of the marketing and books.
Kennan was a mentor to my girls as well as other kids he new. Each time we’d visit he’d show them all the new toys he’d acquired since we were there last…the mule in the pic above, or a new 500lb fan for the barn, or just a new idea he was proud of. And as they walked, he’d discuss things like ’how’re your grades’ or ‘what are doing to keep busy’ and the conversation was always loaded with his advice.
Then if he wasn’t lectoring, he was teaching. Teaching them how to feed the alpacas, or teaching me how to build a berm to keep the water flowing in a different direction, teaching David, the boy next door how to care for the alpacas….always teaching, always sharing.
I’m told he had a way with animals, but he was always busy with us when we were visiting, Pat is the one to share those stories. I do know that they always had a strange wide selection of animals on the farm, right down to the guinea hens and emus.
I heard someone say that Kennan is now in heaven with his mother and The Lord…someone else piped up that she probably had him by the ears too. I can see a little of that. There were times when he would act a little childish…maybe it was something that he wanted…and wanted now, regardless of what was going on around him. Those that new him well could raise their voice ever so slightly, and using the same firm and curt way that I would use to tell my youngest to chew with her mouth closed or leave the table…he would heed, but with a smirk on his face.
Thanksgivings were special because that was about the only time you might get Kennan off the farm and it was probably the thought of Mom’s pumpkin pie that would persuade him. Mom would get flustered because Kennan would show up for Thanksgiving dinner and immediately want a piece of pie. That was big no-no in our gatherings…pies weren’t touched until after dinner! Or, if it was a Thanksgiving that he wasn’t able to bless us with his presence, he fussed because we ate all the pumpkin pie. Needless to say, Mom began making him his own pie. He could eat it when he wanted and have plenty to take home, and….it made him special - which is what he truly was.
So instead of being held by the ears, I choose think of him as watching over his flock, we know who we are.
And I choose to remember Kennan as someone that chose to live life to the fullest (pie before dinner) and still does. He lives through our memories, through his kindness and even through his favorite color blue.
