Mark Welsh Day

We all know the amazing strength, faith and attitude that Metisha had through her cancer battle.  Her strength was inspiring.  I think a lot of strength came from the rock in her life who hasn’t received nearly enough of deserved attention on this blog.  So today I am declaring it Mark Welsh day on the blog and I know he will hate every word that I am about to write :)

Mark and Metisha’s first dance was in junior high.  They started dating in high school where he was the football quarterback and she was a basketball star.   They continued to date on off through college and in 2000 were married on a beach in Jamaica. 

In 2007 when Metisha was diagnosed with stage four breast cancer, Mark became her rock.  He was her steady, her calm, her constant, her consistency.  He was and is amazing.  He never stopped loving her.  He experienced more heartache than we will never know and is the only one who endured watching Metisha slowly fade away every day.  When it was time to stand true to the vow, “for better or for worse, in sickness and in health”, he did not falter.  He loved her through all of the sickness and the worse.  Leaving to him was never an option and never a thought that entered his mind.  Mark is a man of commitment and he never wavered from his commitment to Metisha.  Even when he was breaking on the inside, externally he was her rock.  While the rest of us were emotional and would fall apart, Mark was her steady and that was in God’s perfect design. 

When Mark first came around I was a snotty, hormonal junior high girl and the beginning of our relationship was a bit rocky.  Suddenly the only flavor of Kool-Aid in the fridge was HIS favorite flavor.  Lasagna was made WITHOUT cottage cheese.  And I had to SHARE my birthday with him.  But worse of all was that my big sister wanted to spend time with him, not me!  You can see that my choice to despise this change in family dynamics was completely justified and he should have been more considerate to my feelings :)  But I matured and realized he probably wasn’t going anywhere so I better get used to it!  We finally had a bonding experience on a spring break ski trip.  It seems that my ankles do not bend to normal angles so every morning he had to wrestle my ski boots on.  And when I say wrestle, I mean wrestle!  I would have to sit on the ground with a foot in the air while he would twist, push and grunt until the boot finally gave way.  The process was always followed by him telling me if I took my boots off I was done skiing for the day.  Oddly, Mark’s doesn't expressed an interest to go skiing with me again … 

Watching Mark unconditionally love my sister, especially at the end of her life, was beautiful, heartbreaking, changed me and inspired me.  He didn’t have to say anything about how much he loved her because his heart was completely visible through his actions in those final days.  He loved her, was a Godly husband and fulfilled every word of their marriage vows with honor and integrity.  I will always love Mark and he will always be my brother and my daughter’s Uncle Mark.

Mark, thank you for loving her and for loving us (even when we were emotional).  I know you don’t like gooey emotions and big accolades and you’re going to be ticked at me for writing this but I don’t care because I love you :)