Two weeks ago I got a phone call from my parents that my Uncle Ron had passed away unexpectedly. It was a shock to hear. I know that his health hasn't been very good the last few years, but I never thought I would get this call. Right after I got off the phone from my mom, I felt an immediate feeling of "I need to go to his funeral". I started looking at airfares and there was no way I could afford to fly to Portland. Driving wasn't much of an option either. I am grateful for family that work for an airline that could get me a buddy pass to fly to Portland. The only catch was that I had to fly through Long Beach, CA. I left on Thursday (trying to avoid the Friday flight crowd) and made it all the way through with no problems.
As soon as I got to Vancouver on Thursday, I was immediately put to work. I helped by scanning pictures that had been gathered of Ron throughout the years. It was the goal of the family to have these pictures put on a computer to show as a slideshow during the viewing. Friday, I had the opportunity to spend the day with my cousin Julie. I went over to help her prepare for the family dinner that was to be held at her house that night. It was so nice to be able to help and also visit and get re-acquainted again. She is experiencing similar behavior issues with her cute little Matthew as I have already gone through with Kyra. It was nice to be able to give her some counsel and share personal experiences that I have had with Kyra.
One other thing that I had been asked to do for the funeral was to prepare a special musical number. Before I flew to Vancouver, I threw together a medley of 3 songs. I really hadn't practiced it much before I left. After Julie and I were done preparing the soups, etc for dinner I realized that I hadn't had a chance at all to practice my songs for the funeral the next day. So, I spent a little while practicing. I thoroughly enjoyed playing on her baby grand piano and having her boys clap for me while I was playing.
Saturday was the funeral. We woke up to cloudy weather and there was a slight drizzle. Because of a conflict, the cemetery couldn't let us have a graveside service until 3:00 pm. Therefore, we had our lunch right after the funeral service. The service itself was beautiful. My Aunt Sandra spoke about Ron and his trials that he endured during his life. She spoke about his kind heart. Uncle Steve also spoke about Ron's trials and what a kind hearted person he was. Uncle Reed spoke about the plan of salvation and gave a great spiritual talk. The spirit was so strong during the service. I think the highlight of the funeral, however, was the eulogy delivered by his daughter Clarissa. She was so nervous about delivering this. She did a beautiful job and truly invited the spirit into the rest of the service. She concluded by adding some personal memories of her father. A personal experience during the funeral service happened to me. I was feeling VERY unprepared for my musical number. As I sat on the bench listening to the talks, I was saying a prayer in my heart that I would be ok doing this number. I prayed that the nerves that I felt would go away and that I could just play from my heart. As I got up to play, I was shaking. I sat down and took a deep breath and started to play with faith that the nerves would eventually go away. As I was only a few seconds into the song, I all of a sudden heard some clapping. I got a huge grin on my face and realized that Matthew and Liam were helping me calm down so that I could play from my heart and not be nervous. I talked to Julie afterward and she said that Liam wasn't clapping and that it might have been Matthew. I realized then, that Heavenly Father had heard my prayer. Whether or not it was Matthew clapping, I heard the noise that made me feel the peace that I needed to continue on with my song.
Miraculously, the rain stopped for the graveside service. As son as it was over and we were getting in our cars, the rain started again. It was a true miracle. Ron was a very quiet, humble man. He was large in stature and large in heart. He probably would've been embarrassed by all the attention he received for this service. However, I also believe that the service was done "just right" (as Grandpa McAllister would say).
I am so fortunate to be born into this family. I am the oldest grandchild and have always felt such a responsibility of that. As the oldest grandchild, I'm not that much younger than my dad's youngest siblings. Uncle Ron was one of those. There was only 8 years between me and Uncle Ron. I have fond memories of going over to Grandpa & Grandmother's house and he being there. I looked up to him like an older brother. I am glad that I had the inspiration to tell me to go to the funeral. It was something that I felt right about. Getting home was an adventure, but what I was able to feel while there made it all worthwhile.
