Two weeks ago, on Saturday, our sweet Uncle Lynn made his way up to heaven. When Grandpa Bowler passed away, Uncle Lynn took over the roll as Grandpa. My kids call him Grandpa Uncle Lynn and Alene, Grandma Aunt Alene. As of my last post, he was in the hospital. He was there for three weeks then just a couple days before he passed on he was moved to Nathan Addleson Hospice, a hospice facility to care for terminally ill patients. They basically just keep them comfortable until they pass away. I did not get to visit him before he passed. The day my mom and sister went, Danny said he had to work. Though it saddend me, I wasn't dragging four kids to a hospital. I was so bummed, because my mom called while they were on their way, and Danny said he had to work, so I dropped it. 20 minutes later I go into our bedroom to put Elyse down for her nap and Danny was like "(sigh), when are they going?" they were already long gone, so I could've gone after all, but I didn't want to drive in by myself. I wish I could've seen him before he was gone, but I'll just have to wait longer.
The morning I heard of his passing, tho I knew it was going to be soon, still broke my heart. He'd passed away late Saturday night, so my mom just sent out a text because she didn't want to wake us up. I woke up the Sunday morning my kids had their primary program, and saw I had a text message. Once I read it, tears started flowing down my cheeks. I cried and cried. I didn't want to upset the boys, so I tried to keep it under wraps, tho I was unsuccessful. I told them that Grandpa Uncle Lynn had died and was in heaven now with Heavenly Father and all of the angels. They were just like "ok?". The kids have never had anybody die who's really close to them before, so they don't entirely get it. They get that his spirit left his body, and his body is burried, but they don't understand why that is sad. I guess, in a way, it's not. He is no longer suffering or in pain, but we'll miss him so much. So, after crying what felt like forever! I decided it was now time to get ready for church, though it was still about four hours away, getting four children, and husband, and myself ready ready for church takes me all day! I don't know what I'll do when we change to 9:00 a.m. this winter. I'll have to wake up at 5:00, lol! We invited both Grandma and Grandpa Bradford and Grandma Markosek to watch the kids NOT sing. I told Alex he was sitting next to the president of the church (Bishop) so he had to be extra good. And he was. Cam went up there and was almost there though the entire program. He got scared and came down just before the last song. I was proud of them. They did good, even though they didn't want to sing. We had a bit over a week before the funeral. The funeral was the best I've evewr been to. It wasn't sad at all, which I loved! The speakers were all AMAZING!! All their stories had me laughing so hard! First Fara, his daughter, (my cousin) spoke. She did so well! Then Ezekiel "Zek". I don't think I've ever met him before, but he was my favorite. I don't know what it was about him, but he stuck out to me. He was so funny!! He was talking about how he'd been called as Bishop two or three times then he decided he was going to grow out his hair and start drinking coke so they wouldn't call him anymore, lol! He just made me laugh with his stories. Somewhat elaborate stories. He said he lived in Lynn and Alene's basement and there was only one lightbulb with water seeping in through the walls. This made me laugh. Then Dr. Moses followed by Batch. They were all such fun/good speakers. The graveside service was very sweet. They did a military tribute (they'd done one during the funeral, too) because Lynn was a verteran. A few of his indian family sang a warrior song and a happy song? I think that's what she said they were... After the graveside service it was back to the church where I completely stuffed myself! Gotta love luncheons :)
I sure will miss Uncle Lynn. I really feel so bad that I didn't visit him more often. In the next life, I'll drive him nuts with my visits, because I cant fix it now! I would go to his house every few months. Not enough when they lived so close! He is my favorite ;) Every time we went over, my kids would climb on top Alene and Lynn. GIve them hugs, eat all their food, play with all their dog toys, because they have dogs, not young children. Climb in and out of their doggy door. Follow Terry around the house, because he's usually walking around getting ready for work. And Lynn would always offer to by the kids ice cream at Inside Scoop, but usually when it was time for us to go, it was because my kids were tired and ready for a nap. The last time we were over, tho, we got to go to the Scoop. It was a lot of fun!
I remember when mom broke her leg. She was talking about how she wanted to go visit Lynn and Alene, but she was unable to drive and she couldn't climb the stairs to get into their house. So, I messaged Alene on facebook asking her if she and Lynn could come outside for a couple hours, until it got hot, so mom could visit. She said they could, so we went over there bright and early on an Aug. morning. Cam who was a year and a half, and Alex who was three and a half had a blast running in the yard. We stayed until it got hot, then we left. It was so fun for the kids and the adults to get out of the house even though it as only on the front lawn. It was fun though!
When I was younger I'd occasionally clean their basement because they were unable to walk up and down the stairs. I wasn't allowed to throw anything away, though, lol. I will always remember and cherish our visits. I'll continue to visit Aunt Alene until she is reunited with her husband.
