I could write for days.....

Never did you leave Ralph Gatlin's company without feeling ministered to, better about yourself, better about life and better about the state of the world in general.  I could write for days.  Below is a list of 21 things he was to me for the 21 years he was physically in my life along with 3 poems he wrote I will forever cherish.    

1. he is a man who loved Joy, Kim and me as if we were his own
2. he is rhyme after rhyme typed in precise fashion
3. he is a Wham! song on a warm summer day
4. he is a going around curves on a long mountain road
5. he is the man you call at all hours of the night and who will come no matter what
6. he is a man with a poem to be quipped at any occasion
7. he is stern yet fair
8. he is a sun tan on a sandy beach in Florida
9. he is "girls, quiet down!"
10. he is a loaner of money never asking for anything in return
11. he is the finest Christian man I know
12. he is benevolent to all
13. he is a pillar of his family
14. he is strength in silence, perspective in words
15. he is a man with no regrets
16. he is "boy, that Kim is really loud"  
17. he is "Priss" in a stern voice, with a gigantic hug of love to follow
18. he is a lifelong friend to my parents 
19. he is a video camera taping crazy girls dance to Whitney Houston
20. he is the serenity and spirituality of the mountains and the beach all wrapped in one
21. he is with the man he served his entire life

As he said to us girls so many times, I say to him today, "you done good."

I love you so Mr. Gatlin.  Nat