Uncle Val

Two weeks ago my great uncle Val died.  Last week we went downtown for his memorial service.  We decided to take the children, knowing Matt could always stay out with them if needed.  And we were pretty sure we’d be having some family time after the service that they would be very welcome at.

It didn’t take long for James to crash on the way down there.  :)

And then Natalie joined him!

When we got there, Joanna and I went in to the service,  and Matt stayed in the car with the sleepers.  They woke up; he fed them snacks, and they came in and sat in the lobby as the service was ending.  It really worked out perfectly.  Joanna was super well-behaved during the service.  The little kids might have done just fine, but it was so quiet in there, I’m not sure it would have been good. 

It was a lovely service, and I went through many tissues.  So many people had such nice things to say, and my cousin Theresa sang a beautiful song.

There was a reception at the same place right after the service.  It was a very nice place; I was quite impressed.

Natalie snuggling Christiana:

There were these fake plant things (you can kind of see one above James’ head), and James kept saying “Christmas tree.”

Drinking out of a goblet!

The lighting in there was just awful for taking pictures.  It actually made me come home and look online at external flashes.  It’s the kind of thing I probably should have in my bag for situations such as this.  David took a ton of pictures as well, and I’ve got some of his sprinkled in this post, along with mine.  {If you really need to tell the difference, you can by hovering over the pictures with your mouse.  His are numbered around 6000; mine at 1000.  Just so you know.  :)}

That’s my Aunt Pat, in the middle below:

James was ON at the reception.  He was just so stinking cute!  I think he made everybody smile; he was just so precious.  {And not obnoxious; I feel like somehow he knew just how to behave.}

My cousin Kara, loving on James.

Me and my seester!

It looks like he might me throwing a tantrum, but he wasn’t.  He just laid down and rolled around for a bit.  I tell ya, he was working that room!

Handsome men!

Me and my boy:

My family!

Playing the “drum”:

I had the ISO cranked to 6400 at this point, which made for some very noisy (grainy kind of) pictures, but that was better than blurry, so I’ll take it.

Sweet siblings!

After the reception we went to my Aunt Pat’s house for dinner.  The children LOVE the recliners that go all the way up with a button.

I let James and Natalie take each other on a “ride” before I made them stop playing with the chairs.

My cousin Lauren just fell in love with James!  She was telling people she was going to put him in her purse and take him home.  {You really shouldn’t tempt a mother of young children like that.  :)  Only kidding!}

I was proud of him for letting people he doesn’t know very well hold him!

I know he could tell they were family though.

David took this one – this is a lot of my extended family!

It was such an excellent service and a wonderful opportunity to visit with lots of family.  My uncle Val was a really wonderful man and I loved him very much.  He made me my very first enchilada.  He was a funny man, with a really good sense of humor.  I think maybe James has a similar sense of humor about him.  Obviously I didn’t know Uncle Val when he was two, but it just seems like James may have a similar way about him.

A few weeks ago I went with my mom, my Grandma, and my aunt Gail to see Uncle Val in the hospital.  He was suffering from leukemia that had gotten very bad.  He was in and out a lot, and his speech was difficult to understand, but he was cracking jokes!

I took this picture while we were there:

They had to be very careful about infection on that floor.  Not so much that we might infect Uncle Val, more that we might spread things around. 

He stayed in the hospital until he died, but he was always surrounded by family.  My grandma (his sister) was there a lot, as were his daughters and of course his wife, my Aunt Pat.  One of his daughters, my aunt Kalli, told me later that they did “Jessica updates” for Uncle Val in the hospital from my Facebook feed.  :)  If I’d known, I would have put up better stuff – ha!  It makes me pretty happy though to think that might have brought a smile to Uncle Val and Aunt Pat.