DEATH IS HARD TO PROCESS

Especially as a child. Wes' Uncle Eggward (it's really Uncle Edward but one of my kids always called him Eggward and so it stuck) passed away on Wednesday of this week. Funny man of God who lived his life to the fullest. I asked Wes if he would take over one day and pay a tribute to his Uncle sometime and he said he would. I hope he does because I think it would be a cool piece of family history for us to look back on in 20 years.

In hopes that he does that, I won't go into his life because I can't even do it justice. My memories of him contain LOTS of laughter and sweet times with the whole family. Eggward is John's (my father in law) brother (there were 3 brothers and two sisters). And Eggward and John were rarely apart. They always lived in hollering distance. And for the last 30+ years they shared 80 acres about 10 minutes from us. This means that he was a HUGE part of Wes' life growing up and even now.

This meant that my kids also got to share in his life. They loved to go down to Uncle Eggward and Aunt Joyce's when they went to visit Grandma and Grandpa. Eggward was diagnosed with Cancer about 18 months ago. And the last 6 months were spent in the comfort of his home with no more available treatments. Over the six months his health slowly deteriorated. Colson began to form a special bond with Uncle Eggward and over the last 3 months anytime we would pray he was always prayed for. If we didn't mention Eggward, Colson would stop us before we said Amen and say "you didn't pray for Uncle Eggward". EVERY NIGHT he'd say the same prayer "please be with Uncle Eggward and his cancer. Help him know that Jesus loves him and he loves you". Never a night went by when those words weren't whispered in the quietness of his bed.

He passed on Wednesday and all day Colson was very strong. At least once an hour he'd recite some joyful news about Eggward's passing. "It's okay mommy. Uncle Eggward has a new body in heaven." or "It's okay mommy, Uncle Eggward is with Jesus and he's not in pain." Late that night when I was on the phone with Grandpa, Colson begged to talk to him. He took the phone in his room and I heard him asking Grandpa if he was sad. You could hear some affirmations to whatever Grandpa was saying and then he hung up and burst into tears. Sobbing. He was so sad and it broke my heart. He spent the next couple of days crying off and on in between his joyful celebration statements again.

Yesterday at the visitation he spent alot of his time in front of the casket just petting Uncle Eggward. I know initially his curious mind wanted to know what a dead persons skin felt like. The other part of his brain was greiving that Uncle Eggward would never come back and the other part of him was processing this whole death thing. The finality of it.

Today at the funeral I captured this picture. It was with my phone so pardon the unclarity. It captures the sweet, sweet moment that Colson had with his Uncle Eggward. It encapsulates the sweet relationship that they shared. He stood here for probably 10 minutes and just petted him. I wondered what he was thinking and saying to Uncle Eggward in his mind.

This was an impressionable moment for both of my kids. I was glad that this event truly was a celebration of life and a time of rejoicing in Eggwards new home and new body.