So just realized some JERK posted a picture on here that I didn't post....and I can't get rid of it....Don't know the woman, wouldn't have posted it on my blog either...scammer

Our Loss, Heaven's Gain

Has it been farrrrrrrrrrr toooooooooo longggggggggggg...yes.  There has been so much going on.  Work has been picking up (OH THANK YOUUUUUU).  

Then...May 17 my boss passed away.  Did he have a good life? YES  Did he have a long life? YES (he was 82) Were we ready for him to go?  Of course not.  Was he ready to go?  I know he wasn't.  He loved  his work, his craft his business and being at the shop. I often hear his voice in my ear.  His wife told me several days ago that she doesn't expect him to, necessarily, walk in the door ... she just expects him to BE THERE!!!  His memorial was last Friday, June 21st.  It was a very nice service, with his grand-daughter-Jenn giving the eulogy and some antidotes about their sweet relationship.  My Mom spoke and gave a really nice talk about our CAPN EO...I even got up and spoke, was it hard...oh yeah...but he deserved to be acknowledged by us.  A few others spoke as well, then a little visiting after with some food people brought and some sweet Sisters from church there manning the food so none of us had to worry about it.  It was a lovely summer day, not too hot and several of his friends brought their old cars to the service (a tribute to his love of restoring cars to their former glory), members of some of the Vintage Car Clubs he belonged to.  He was a good, old soul!  We will miss him.

This weekend we, Mom and I, are traveling to my Uncle's memorial.  Another huge loss in our lives, just two weeks after my boss.  My uncle was the best.  

My Uncle Dick, the youngest child of my Granma, the youngest brother of my Mother and Aunt…It is very hard to summarize the feelings regarding the life of your Uncle, and friend.  Uncle Dick was only 13 years older than me; we were friends from the start.  My Granma used to tell me stories of Uncle Dick and his “gang” (certainly not in the manner that gang is used today) of pals, who used to push me around Monterey in my baby carriage.  My memories are varied, from the parade he marched me in by decorating my baby stroller and pushing me thru the parade; to the first ride in his first car with him; him teaching me to dance (dances young people today don’t know, like the stroll or the continental); a very special Uncle/niece date at the Monterey Fair when I was a teen (we had a blast by the way, a lot of laughs, food and all the rides we could go on); singing along with Mitch on the vinyl LP; watching him draw or paint; the first picture he ever gave me for graduation from high school (and asked me every time he gave me another to burn it, which I couldn’t do as it was my first Richard Norbeck original!).  Our many visits to Porterville to visit, eat and stroll all along memory lane with him and Olivia.  Those visits were always full of laughter from start to finish.  The notes he would send, always signing your loving uncle….one thing is clear…I KNOW that he never doubted our love for him, nor did my family, his for us;  that gives comfort that there are no regrets in worrying that he didn’t know how very much we loved him.  We are so grateful that his art community have chosen to honor him, we love him and will ever miss him.  Every person in our family has had this read at their service, from the book-This Birth That We Call Death-we want to continue that, as my Mom will read it at his memorial….

A beautiful ship spreads her white sails to the morning breeze and starts for the blue ocean.
She is an object of beauty and strength

We watch until at last she hangs like a speck of white cloud just where the sun and sky come down to mingle with each other. 

Then someone at my side says, 'There she goes! 
Gone where? Gone from my sight - that is all. 

She is just as large in mast and hull and just as able to bear her load of living freight to the places of her destination.
Her diminished size is in me, not in her. 

And just at the moment when someone at my side says,
'There she goes! ' ,
there are other eyes watching her coming and rejoicing, with glad shouts saying :
'Here she comes!' 

I know my Granma was right at the front of that line joyfully saying, “Here He Comes!”

I read this at CAPN EO's service and will my Uncle's as well....I know it is true.....

On this earth we view death from the perspective of one who stays behind, much as a man views a long journey when he is sending someone else off rather than going himself.  He puts his friend on the train or plane and waves goodbye, only able to imagine what the trip is like and what the friend will find when he gets where he is going.

If we could glimpse, for even a moment, the glory and excitement that a departed one faces when his eyes close on time [on this earth] and open on eternity-if only we could glimpse this, perhaps there would be more understanding in our sorrow and more joy in our grief.....

We will ever miss you both...God Be With You Til We Meet Again, with love............