Saturday was the funeral for my dear father in law. It was a very nice day. There was some beautiful music, including a violin piece "I Need Thee Every Hour" by Amanda, a harmonica solo "Danny Boy"... and a vocal acapella rendition of "A Poor Wayfaring Man of Grief".
There was a varied selection of speakers. The kids all shared memories of their dad and Stefani gave a really touching talk about how her Grandparents were some of her best friends and all the fun talks they had about life over the last four years.
My mom in law placed a wooden heart in Lynn's hand before they closed his casket. She said, "you hold my heart in your hands".
Lots of people showed up for the funeral which was a nice tribute to Shirley and her socialness and love of people.
The hallway was filled with tables of photos of dad fishing, and with family. Also his fish carvings were displayed. Many people didn't know that he carved wood.
I really felt his presence throughout the day. I know for sure that he is happy. If there is fishing in heaven or the Spirit World, I'm pretty sure he's fishing too.
We made a very quick trip down to Utah. We saw nearly everyone from the reunion 2 weeks before. We watched some picture slides of another funeral when Kris's grandpa died. In the pictures our kids were tiny. Brooke was a very young infant and Hailey was sporting her blonde blonde hair. Stefani and Shelby looked so small. It really didn't seem that long ago that we were there for that occasion.
Which illustrated to me that the time goes so very fast.
It flies by. When you live far away from loved ones and only see them 2-3 times a year... that's not a lot of time.. and as the years go... it seems that those moments are few and far between. But so meaningful.
Tonight I spoke to my brother Jared and he told me of a touching story that really made me smile.
Years ago, he returned from his mission and had to register his vehicle at the DMV in Orem or Provo. He stood in line there as people do and started waiting. He said that up ahead of him was a gentleman who was visiting with everyone in line. This man was excitedly waiting to register his new boat. After a while, my brother realized that it was my father in law. He said that Lynn left and he never went up to him to say hi, but enjoyed the moment observing him so happily interacting with the people at the DMV.
I loved that my brother shared that memory with us. It was sweet and comforting. Kris's dad did love people. He never met a stranger. When he stayed with us a few years ago he chatted up everyone. Another nice thing about this story, is that boat that he was registering is the boat that now sits in my carport. If that boat could talk it would recount so many fun trips to fish with Kris, his brothers, his dad, and now his wife and kids.
So we are home. And tired.
But it was a great weekend and a nice tribute to a very sweet, gentle man.
Who is very missed.
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