Families are Forever

We lost my Aunt Shirley last week after her long battle with Alzheimer's Disease. She was 73 . My Uncle Ander (Dad's brother) had been her caretaker until her last 3 weeks when she required nursing home care. Aunt Shirley was a quiet, tender, special soul. We will miss her smile! It was sad to say good-bye but wonderful to see that her suffering was over.

The service was very special. I think one of the reasons for that was that Uncle Ander spoke. Prior to the funeral, we had lunch at Uncle Ander's house. We kept the kids in play clothes during the day and needed to change prior to going to church. We used Uncle Ander's room to change and he needed to get his suit coat and papers out first...so Porter was asking him what he had wrote down and Uncle Ander explained that he needed some notes to make sure he said the right things at the funeral. After he left the room, Porter looked at me with a very serious face and said, "Mom, all he needs to say is that Families are Forever and she is with Heavenly Father waiting..." I just hugged him and said that he was right!

The best part of funerals would be visiting with relatives we never get to see anymore. Porter met so many cousins he couldn't remember their names...they couldn't remember him either so everyone just called everyone "cousin" and Dixon was 'baby cousin'. It was great! We are re-committed to keeping in touch with our extended family. We are planning our trip to Virginia for Gina's wedding this summer.

The only downer for the trip was that Dixon got sick with an ear infection. We were not about to make him wait until we got home to take him for treatment. The local hospital had a walk-in clinic separate from the ER which is a regular co-pay with our insurance. That was great news until they told me they don't treat toddlers!! URGH....we go to the Empty ER and then an hour later, we are on our way to get 3 prescriptions filled....that took only 35 minutes at Walmart and then we were off to Uncle Ander's house in time for lunch.