I had a chance to visit 4 graves that I hadn’t been to before a couple nights ago.
My Uncle Lorin’s grave, who died on my 25th birthday, his two children’s graves who’d died at birth due to the same kidney problems that took his life, I’d been to their graves before, but they’d been moved when Lorin died to all be together. His oldest son announced their first baby about the same time he passed, and their baby is just a couple weeks younger than Joey, so he missed holding his first grandchild by just a few months. His sweet wife Aunt Analee, seems to be doing pretty well, I love her and wish her the best.
I also visited Paula’s grave for the first time. It was nice to spend some time and think about their lives. My Mom and I saw Paula’s daughter and husband at Costco a few days ago, and as I walked away it hit me how hard it is to be here knowing I’m not going to run into her at church and have our usual sweet chats. How many people will greatly miss these chats? I’m sure a lot. I know she’s doing wonderful things on the other side of the veil, and her love is felt by many.
My days too still long for Paula! I feel like maybe I’ll see her out walking; I go to set up visiting teaching and want to call her too; I see Steve in the hall (or more sadly Stevie or Stephanie) and long to see Paula by their side. I too saw Stephanie and Steve at Costco a week or so ago. They were buying Oreos and asked who the Oreos were for… Steve and I giggled about it in church the next day… He’s a good man!