Sorry for not posting on Sunday, but from Thursday through Sunday we had relatives over from Colorado and Illisnois. They came over for my beloved aunt's funeral.
To the glory of God Thursday through Sunday were VERY NICE days. After an unseasonaby wet winter and spring, we FINALLY got some sun in the Pacific Nothwest.
I am so happy inside to see my aunt who is in her late 60s along with her two sons again who are both in my age range, though both cousins are a few years younger than me.
Anyway, I really enjoyed getting to talk to my cousins face-to-face again. The youngest cousin is VERY EASY to get along with. He's ALWAYS the life of the party, and makes convesation easily. The other cousin is now a professor at the unvivercity. His oldest daughter is now looking to go to college. WOW!! How time flies. I can still remember in the car with them shortly after the 1st "Star Wars" movie came out. We were all little kids at the time and we were in competition to see who could get the coolest Star Wars action figure. My two cousins alwasys seamed to beat both me and my brother at that. I think my first Star Wars figure was C3PO. Anyway for a time in the late 1970s those Star Wars figures were the rage. Today's action figures can't hold the jock strap of the first wave of action figures that came out--like jawas with real fabric overcoats!
The funeral for my aunt on Friday went by very fast. I think that's because I forced myself to talk to as many people as I could and try to make them feel welcome, and thank them for taking time out of their busy schedules to honor my aunt one last time.
I thought seeing my aunt's physical body one last time, this time in a coffin would be my undoing, but it wasn't. Thankfully I'm a spirit-filled Christian who knows that Denny's soul and spirt are up in Heaven right now. Denny's prayer partner even said that recently she had a dream where Denny told her, "You know where I am," and heard her singing in Heaven. In like fashion my sister-in-law saw an angelic cloud lift and someone being raised up into it arround the time of Denny's death two Friday's ago. I don't get my visions or God-inispired sightings. But I really like hearing from people who do. I find that very assuring.
I didn't speak too much Jesus to our visitors from back east. Sometimes you hafta let the Holy Spirit led and provide the opportunies.
Still, with my two cousins we did all hunt for rock crab at Salt Water State park, and when Jeff really got into that seamed to help push my 8-year-old nephew, Brycen, over the edge and he FINALLY joined us and actually caught a couple rock crab himself. That's God. God was giving Jeff and Brycen a memory together. And I'm learning the lesson of sharing in the joy even when someone else is the center of attention.
Strenthening the ties that bind.
At my insistance we also did "feats of strength" (a.k.a. trying to spit knotty wood with an axe maul). EVERYONE got involved here: me, Jeff, Jamie, their father Jim and even my own dad. Everyone got their chance to split a lot, and everone did! Though I would still have to hand the trophy of the winner of the "feats of strength" to Jeff. He works out a lot and it showed duirng the feats of strength.
On Saturday night I had a GREAT conversation with my brother over a private campfire. I really love my little brother. And it really souths my soul and reminds me of NOT judging other people when he tells of all the times that God spoke to him. Once when we a pesky coyotee outside our property, God woke Derek up telling him to get the gun (I think it was a .22 rifle at the time) and go outside and shoot the coyotee. BUT because it was cold at wintertime, my brother delayed. God repeated this message several times untill he complied. Unfortunately, that came a littel too late, and Derek was unable to kill the coyotte. Still, Derek had learned a valuable lesson; when God speaks you need to be obedient.
Strengthening the ties that bind.
When dealing with extended family that you don't get to see but very sparingly I tend to want to just show them a good time and leave a good taste in their mouth. Besides Jeff one other guy who really was easy to talk to was his father Jim. I guess Jim took a liking to me, for reasons unknown because I'm really not that impressive of a person, and chatted me up several times. For the most part I really liked hearing Jim's stories and what he likes and doesn't like. Growing up, when I was kid, all I knew about Jim was that he liked to watch a lot of TV and drink a lot of Coca-cola. I was just a kid and he was in the midsn't of his bread-winning years. Father comes home wants some downtime to recharge, I get that. But now that Jim's retired it's like he's a totally diffrent guy. Very social and outgoing. And you NEVER know what people are going to respond to. YEARS ago Jim came out to our property, and we played horsehoes in this special pit area that my dad built. Because horeshoes is such a boring game I added the dynamic of being able to score points by knocking off a can that was set on top of the post. Knock the can off get 2 additional points. The fun thing about the can was that IF your horeshoe hit it sometimes it would hop up, and spin and rattle around. Kind of a funhouse affect. Jim really thought that was cool. Like I said, you never know what people are going to respond to.
Strenghening the ties that bind.
I also bought a ton of beer for this outing. Not sure what would transpire after the funeral. Even bought some expensive "sour mash" in honor of Denny who on sereral occasions mentioned that she liked, "a good sour-mash". Going to the liqour store I had no idea what a "sour mash" was, but one of the isle consultants led me over to the burbon section. There I selected a bottle that had on it the descriptor, "sour mash", and though it was a little spendy I bought it anyway. On Friday night after the funeral we all had a shot of George Dickel's "sour mash". Later when at the fire with my brohter I spat some of that whiskey on the fire and it flamed up more than the lighter fluid that we had on hand.
Writingwise I've had a good time getting back in the grove Monday and Tuesday following the funeral and extended family time.
Moving forward I'm going keep working on improving my parents property, the garage, and my brother's house. So much to do. But it's keeping me young, right? Anywho...
Things for me are starting to normalize, and that's a good thing. Still got Denny's memorial/celebration of life service, which will either be this Saturday or next Saturday, as my mom having trouble locking down a location. Going to be spending a lot of time with my mom over the next month. She just lost her twin sister. And I don't want her to die from a broken heart. Eventhough she's a born-again, spirit-filled Christian losing someone very close to you there is a void in your heart.
So slowly expect things to be getting back to normal. Just not quite there yet.
E.C. Henry from Bonney Lake, WA
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