Rory Feek Visits Joey’s Family For The First Time Since Her Death, Shares Photos Of Their Emotional Homecoming

It’s been three months since Joey Feek passed away, and Rory Feek is just now getting up the strength to return to her hometown to visit with her family.

For those of you who followed Joey’s story, you know that they spent the last seven months of her life living in Alexandria, Indiana, so Joey could be close to her family. For those of you who didn’t follow Joey’s story, you need to know just how much this little town meant to her. It was her home for many many years, it was where all her childhood memories took place, it’s where her entire family lived, and it was where she took her very last breath.

Rory Feek, Joey’s husband and duet partner, started writing about his life with Joey on his blog This Life I Live long before she was diagnosed with cancer. He has shared stories of love and loss, along with the intimate details of their life together. On Thursday, Rory shared a post titled “home alone” in which he revealed he returned to Alexandria with his 2-year-old daughter, Indiana, over the weekend — it was the first time he had been there since Joey died on March 4.

“It was the first time that we’d been back there, since my wife’s passing in early March,” Rory wrote. “I was excited and nervous about the trip at the same time. Part of me wasn’t ready to go back. Not yet. But another part of me knew it was the right thing, and believed that it would be healing for us. And it was.”

Although it was hard for him to be back in that little town, Rory knew Joey would want him to be there. Her sister Jody’s son Cody graduated high school, and Joey’s family had gotten together to celebrate his accomplishment. If she were alive, Joey would have gone, so Rory felt he needed to go too. He didn’t tell anyone he was coming, making their homecoming even more special when everyone saw his truck pull in.

“When I pulled in and parked by the other cars and Jody saw me get out of my truck, she came running across the yard,” Rory wrote. “Her eyes filled with tears. She hugged me and cried and cried. It was a beautiful homecoming. Then as quickly as we got there… Indiana was whisked away into her aunt’s arms and she stole the show from there on out.”

“And later that evening, Joey’s mama made a nice dinner for us at the farmhouse that my sweet bride had grown up in,” Rory continued. “We all had a wonderful time. Especially Indy. She loved being with all of her cousins again. And I loved being with Joey’s sisters… who have now become like sisters to me… and their husbands and babies.”

He continued, “It had been strange to be there again. In Indiana. With Indiana. Without Joey. To sleep upstairs in the bedroom that my wife had spent her childhood sleeping in and know that she’ll never lay beside me there again and tell me stories of her childhood. To be in her home, with her family, without her. It was hard. And good. And wrong. And also right. So, so right.”

[Image via This Life I Live]