Carter "PAPAW" Johnson Pritchett 9/9/45- 9/8/11

 Well it has been a very long month at my house. For the past 4 weeks we have been at my in laws house every day. I usually got up and got Lucas to school. Then get the other two boys ready and head on down there by 9 or 10.  Bradley would go to work get home at 2:45 get Lucas off bus at 3. Then he was on his way down there too. We would stay until at least 8 or 9 every night. My house looks like a war zone.

 Tuesday he stayed in bed all day and I could hear the congestion in his breathing. By the time I got there Wednesday morning he was really congested sounding.  By Wednesday pm he was rattling. When I heard this I know it wouldn't be long. So we decided to stay the night. I was the only one that was awake all night, Most everyone got at least a couple hours of sleep. Thursday morning things begin to get a lot worse. He was having a hard time. Bradley had to go into work for couple hours but was back by 8:00am. Nurse came in and said it would probably be a few hours to a day or so. She called in some RX's so Michael and Bradley went to pick them up. Edna April Douglas and Lebron started cleaning a little becuase we knew there was some company coming and with everything being so rough we hadnt got to vacuum or really deep clean in a few days. So they made me stay in there with him in the recliner in hopes I would take a nap. NOT!! I sat beside him holding his hand. He would start moaning and I would tell him everything will be ok. After a while I was really sleepy so I started to sing to him. Now mind you I was tired and crying so it was probably really bad but I was alone and the vacuum was going so no one could hear me. He seemed to calm down a little. So I got over in the chair and kicked back. I dozed off for maybe 15 minutes and he woke up moaning and groaning. By the time I got back over to the bed Edna came in. She held his hand for a while. When she couldn't get him calmed down she wanted me to get the boys. It was about 12:00 or so at this point. It was just me April Edna Lebron and Douglas. I called Bradley and told them to hurry back. We all talked to him and tried to tell him it was ok. Everyone did. By this time word got out and people were coming in. The nurse came by to check his meds. Then all of the sudden he started taking really deep breaths. He did that 3 times and that was it. At about 3 pm he was gone. It was so peaceful and quick that we were all in shock.

 He would say I am not looking for death. He didn't want to leave. He wanted to be healed so bad and believed that he could be. It just wasn't meant to be. We have had some hard days here lately. The lord has been there to comfort Bradley and Edna and all the other boys. We have all had our moments. The best way I can describe it is a "Roller Coaster Ride"! Lucas has took it really hard. Logan doesn't understand and Levi will never know Papaw. I don't know which hurts me the most. All I can do is remind them of their Papaw and how much he loved them. I will tell Levi one day about him and what he missed out on. He loved the grand kids so much. He wasn't very affectionate to Edna or his boys but the grand kids was different. He would hug them and tell them how special they were. How much he loved them. There wasn't one time we saw him the boys didn't want to go with him and he wanted them. In the last two years I would worry so much that I let them go to much but I wouldn't trade it for anything now. That is something my boys will cherish for ever. I have cried for my mother in law, for Bradley, for my brother in laws, for my boys, for my nieces and nephews and for me. I didn't realize how much I would miss him. I liked to argue with him. lol He liked it too. He used to say just ask Haley she will tell you what she thinks. I think he liked that about me. When no one else would decide he would say ask Haley! One time we were all going somewhere to eat and no one would say where they wanted to go. So he said "Haley where ever you want to go just decide" I said "Ok lets go to Applebees" He said "Well I don't really like Applebees" I said "Tough you told me to decide" He just laughed and said "Let's go" LOL

 The point is he will be greatly missed by his wife, his boys, his brothers and sisters, his grand kids and ME!!!