It’s Dooley Day, 19.0. The day my cute, funny, sweet little brother left this world and headed for Heaven 19 years ago today. (I shared the full story a few years back in this post if you have a few minutes to read!) This one hits a little different for some reason, and I think it has something to do with my kids getting older and having very defined physical features and personality traits that scream Dooley! Last week, I jotted down a few things about my babies that remind me of Dooley, and it made me smile! 🙂
Tall, lanky, tender-hearted Wilson whose sensitivity is one of the most precious (sometimes annoying) things about him, and his love for drawing his favorite book characters in pencil are so Uncle Dooley! I remember Dooley’s Garfield characters. Wilson is currently into Dog Man, and he’s getting pretty good! Dooley was supposed to be about 6’8” and Wilson is projected to be about 6’8” as well. Tall, handsome boys! <3 Price actually commented over the weekend to me as we were talking about Wilson’s height and how several girls have made comments lately about how cute he is, “I think your oldest son is going to look an awful lot like your little brother as he continues to grow.” And I think he’s right! Which is a magical and sweet and great thing! 🙂
Lily Ryan, with her bright blonde hair, is always (ALWAYS) asking questions and is rarely satisfied with the simple answer. She needs a deep dive! A lot like her Uncle Dooley 🙂 On that same note, I remember one time when we were little, our whole family was in the car driving down I-55 and someone pointed out an airplane. “Where is it? I don’t see it,” Dooley said. “It’s right over there,” the rest of us were saying, pointing to a certain spot in the sky. Dooley never could spot the airplane, and I remember him getting so upset about it (I’m laughing as I type this!) because that is ABSOLUTELY something that happens with Lily Ryan on the regular! Dooley and Lily Ryan just want to be in the know, and it just really ruffles their feathers when they miss something that everyone else caught! haha
And Dempsey! The blonde hair, the full baby face, the rounder eyes. His (generally) go-with-the-flow attitude, the constant testing of his limits, and his love for making others laugh are so much like Uncle Dooley 🙂 My mama tells a story about Dooley where, right about when he was starting to form sentences, he told her to quit singing the song she was singing. ( I can’t imagine why, because my mama has a lovely voice!) I imagine her laughing, then continuing to hum or sing more softly. But he said, “I said… don’t sing!” He was the baby and he wanted it his way! haha and Dempsey is JUST like that! I was fixing Dempsey cereal the other day and I grabbed a blue bowl to pour the cereal into. “I want gween bowl,” Dempsey said. I started telling him how great blue was and that the green bowl was on the very bottom of the stack and how he could just enjoy a blue bowl. “I WANT GWEEN BOWL, MAMA.” Wellokaythen… hah!! Two boys, confident to share with their mamas their likes and dislikes in very direct, yet funny and sweet, ways!
I love the little Dooley-isms I get to witness every day. They’re so sweet! And I think these would be very easy to overlook if I didn’t try and see them. (I actually do often overlook them during the busyness of the day-to-day.) My Dooley Day 2021 takeaway is the reminder to slow down and notice LIFE. To notice little things in your kids or your surroundings that are meaningful. To stop and think about how perfect God’s design and timeline are. I love seeing Dooley in my kids, but it’s really easy to overlook on the busy days. I hope and pray that you’ll be able to slow down this week and take note of something that maybe you’ve been speeding past lately.
Life is short. It’s easy to miss!! TODAY IS THE DAY to point out something to a friend or family member or coworker that you appreciate about them. Tell them something you noticed about them that made you smile! Because we are not promised tomorrow. I plan to tell my kids today the things I notice about them that remind me of their Uncle Dooley. They love hearing stories about him so they’ll love hearing the similarities they share with him!
I’d also love to encourage anyone going through a hard time right now, whatever that may look like, with a scripture that has recently landed only radar that I just LOOOOOVE!! Isaiah 45:3 says, “And I will give you treasures hidden in the darkness— secret riches. I will do this so you may know that I am the LORD, the God of Israel, the one who calls you by name.”
Did you read that? There are secret treasures hidden in the dark times! I recently got to hear Katherine Wolfe speak, and she’s the one who dove into this scripture. She pointed out that, when we go through dark seasons, there are treasures! She said, “If I’m going to have to go through a hard time, I may as well be on the hunt for the treasure! That makes the dark season more bearable, right?!” Yes, Katherine!!
Dooley’s death was DARK. And there are days when emotions will just hit me that make some days harder than others. Then of course, life goes on an other hard things enter our lives. But it’s so encouraging to know that we can take a treasure with us from the difficult, dark times! 🙂
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Thank you so much for checking in today! I appreciate you remembering Dooley with me! SPEAKING OF… If you get a wild hair and want to enjoy a Reese’s today in Dooley’s memory, I’d love it! (Here’s that backstory. Warning: bathroom humor!) You can use the hashtag #rememberingDooley on the socials if you happen to snap a pic of it and want to share! I’d love to see 🙂
Today is a sad yet happy day because, although Dooley isn’t physically here with us anymore, we know that his heart belonged to Jesus and we know that we WILL see him very soon! Thanks again for being here. I hope you have a really great day 🙂 XO!
