Losing a loved one

Last week I opened my email to find that I had lost my Uncle Jimmie unexpectedly. He was an amazing man, well liked, well loved, and dearly missed. Ben didnt' want to go to the funeral, he has some "thing" about them, so my Dad, Brother, and Corbin and I set out in "blackie" (the kids name for Dad's black cadillac) for Silver Spring, Maryland, just outside of Washington DC. We left on Tuesday night around 7pm and arrived there about 4:30AM on Wednesday. Corbin slept almost the entire way, which made for smooth sailing. We checked into a hotel, had a couple bites of donut, then all fell asleep. Thank you to Corbin for going back to sleep so that I could get about 3 hours sleep to make it through the day.

We attended the viewing that day, and enjoyed seeing our cousins and Aunt, even under the sad circumstances. It is sad that we can only get together at funerals (the last time we saw them was at my mom's funeral almost four years ago). But, we all live at a distance, have small children, and lead busy lives. Hoping to get together with my cousins through the years to come. We have such great memories together and would love to continue to share time together.

Dad, Bill, Corbin and I enjoyed some chinese dinner that night, we were the only patrons in this resteraunt and received first class service. We then retired to our rooms, to get some sleep to recoup from the long drive and little hours of sleep we were working on. Thursday morning we met by chance in the continental breakfast room at varying times, we wanted to let each person get as much sleep as possible. later Thursday we set out for the funeral, which was wonderfully done to tribute my Uncle. We enjoyed some great food at my Aunt's and a little more conversation with our wonderful cousins, then set off to drive home around 4pm. That got us home Friday morning at 3:30AM. So I got a few hours of sleep that night as well.

I'll miss my Uncle Jimmie, and know that his legacy is carried on in the most wonderful way through his family and friends. It is nice to know that he is reunited with his sister (my Mom) and his mother and father in heaven.

Enjoy your friends and family every minute, we don't know how many of those minutes we have,
Lisa :)