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<\/figure>\n\n\n\nIt wasn\u2019t easy, but it gave Mary Kay and Tim another thing to do together. And after he passed away in April, it\u2019s the quality time that Mary Kay will cherish forever.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWhen I look back, it\u2019s all good memories,\u201d Mary Kay said. \u201cSince he is no longer here, you think about the good times \u2014 just going out the day after Christmas and trying to find all the ornaments half-price\u2026 it was just fun.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Tim was six years into his retirement. Mary Kay said he worked out five days a week and never drank or smoked. One day, he called Mary Kay while she was at the gym and said he thought he had gallstones because his stool was \u201cas white as snow.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI come home because I know something ain\u2019t right, and within two hours, he was jaundiced,\u201d Mary Kay remembered. \u201cHe had never had surgery in his whole life \u2014 even still had his tonsils. Life was good\u2026 \u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n
They quickly went to the hospital. Tim was diagnosed with stage four pancreatic cancer that same day. He was initially given six months to live, and at that moment, Mary Kay said, everything changed.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cIt was all about him. Whatever he wanted, he was going to get,\u201d she said. \u201cYou can\u2019t give up. You have to keep going. I just kept everything negative away from him from that day on. Having a positive mindset changed everything. It played a huge role in his treatment.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n Tim endured 27 months of chemotherapy. Remarkably, he persevered until April 15, over two years from his prognosis. <\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cTwenty-three months into his diagnosis, Tim was working out in the yard,\u201d Mary Kay said. \u201cLooking back, it blows me away.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cA little over a month before he passed, he told me that he thought God had given me a test, and I had surpassed that test and done everything humanly possible for him. And because of that, God would bless me,\u201d Mary Kay said. \u201cI was crying and asked him why he wasn\u2019t, and he said, \u2018Because I\u2019m at peace, Mary Kay. Having peace is God\u2019s grace.\u2019\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n A couple of months before he passed, Tim wrote out his testimony to share with others, recounting how he came to the church during his treatment: <\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cWe have a back patio that faces the sunrise, so I thought I would watch the sun come up. I tell everyone I didn\u2019t hear a voice, but it was like God was sending me a message that he was going to let me see many more sunrises. That was over two years ago. I\u2019m so thankful for this extra time with Mary Kay and my family. The power of prayer is real!\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cIf God can find it in His heart to love and forgive a sinner like me, then there is hope for everyone,\u201d he wrote.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n Mary Kay and Tim went to Navarre Beach every year. This August, Mary Kay went without him. <\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cIt was bittersweet, but it was a good healing time, and he wanted me to go on living,\u201d she said. \u201cYou still gotta keep living \u2014 you have to. I can remember my mama always telling me: \u2018We\u2019re all going to die. We just don\u2019t know how and when.\u2019\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n This year is a year of firsts for Mary Kay \u2014 her first birthday since Tim passed, the first time she spent their wedding anniversary on July 4 without him, her first solo vacation, Thanksgiving, Christmas, and his birthday \u2014 all reminders of the life and love they shared for 23 years.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n Tim and his doctors did everything they could to give him more holidays, more birthdays, and more time. Mary Kay said she\u2019s grateful for every second of it. <\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThe first year I know is going to be the hardest,\u201d she said. \u201cIt ain\u2019t going to be easy, but I promised Tim I would be okay. I\u2019m proud of him. He was such a fighter.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n The Christmas trees will take a backseat this year, although Mary Kay said she\u2019ll put up her favorites. She spent the last two Christmases wondering if each would be Tim\u2019s last. Now, she will spend this one making new memories with family and friends. After all, ever since his diagnosis, Mary Kay said she has cherished her time a little differently. <\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cGod blessed us with more time, and time is your most precious commodity. I mean, that\u2019s all we got is time,\u201d she said. \u201cNothing else really matters. Make those memories and don\u2019t sweat the small stuff. We all get wrapped up in life, but at the end of the day, it\u2019s your family that matters, and that\u2019s what Christmas is all about.\u201d GN <\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" IN TULLAHOMA, Mary Kay and Tim Counts are known for many things: being Jack Daniel\u2019s collectors, riding Harley- Davidsons, keeping their lawn immaculately groomed, etc. But one thing separates them from the other Jack Daniel\u2019s-loving, lawn-mowing, biker couples in Tennessee: they had a Christmas tree for every single room in their home. There\u2019s a frog-themed […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":18,"featured_media":20931,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"off","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-20929","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-cover"],"yoast_head":"\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/goodnewsmags.com\/tullahoma\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/8\/2023\/11\/1-2-1024x683.png\")
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