Uncle Bill's Funeral

 Have I said lately how grateful I am for eternal families???

Yesterday I went to the funeral of my Uncle Bill Putnam, the man who was married to my mom's sister Norma. It was a beautiful, sunny day, and a great day to remember the life of a very good man.

I LOVED seeing all of my family there that I don't get to see that often...especially my Aunt Linda. 

She is my dad's little sister and every time I see her it bring's back such good memories...

For sure sweet memories of my dad, but also memories of my childhood 

when we would drive down to Utah and Idaho from Alaska and visit everyone.

We would have sleep over's at Aunt Linda's house with our cousins. 

They lived on a farm and so we got to have all kinds of fun and explore the farm...

I remember helping to milk the cows, collecting earth worms to go fishing, playing "kick the can" and "no bears are out tonight" when it was dark...

I remember playing dress up with all of the older cousins high heels and dresses and eating cereal with fresh cows milk...that I HATED! (It always felt so thick and WARM...)

 She is a good woman and a sweet widow too...Her husband was also my mom's brother so we were double cousins to Aunt Linda's kids...which made them our FAVORITE cousins. :) But really we loved them all!!!

 My Uncle Bill served in the military when he was younger and so they saluted and honored him.

I always feel the spirit so strong when they do things like this...It feels so reverent, respectful, and so patriotic. It was really a privilege to get to be there. 

 They handed the flag to my cousin Jane, who was Bill's daughter, since his wife Norma couldn't be there.

That was probably the hardest part of the day for me was seeing how much his daughters are going to miss their dad, AND knowing that his wife, my sweet Aunt Norma couldn't even be present for her own husband's funeral...;(

They lived together in Albuquerque for most of their life until recently my aunt broke her back and had to be placed in a home, and so bill had to go to stay with his daughter Jill here in Utah so she could help take care of him while Norma was trying to get better. The sad thing is, she will not really ever get better. She is paralyzed now and can't walk but keeps saying that she just "can't walk." She was also diagnosed with breast cancer and had a masectomy the same week that her husband passed away so she was absolutely in no condition to fly here to attend the funeral. So, they live streamed the funeral on facebook so she could watch it from her room...THAT was the saddest part of this whole funeral. ;(

That and the fact that my mom and some of my aunts that are widowed were just so sad for many good reasons. BUT, it was so so good to be together. Being together brings strength, comfort, and peace.

 Here is my mom with my cousin Jill too...wet eyes with tears of love.

 After the funeral was over we all headed to Chuck~A~Rama where Jill paid for everyone's lunch! It was nice to sit down, visit, reminisce, and catch up with so many relatives! I just can't say it enough...I am soooo grateful for eternal families!!!