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I have three fabulous children and a terrific husband. I was recently laid off and have decided to try the stay-at-home gig. We'll see how it goes!

Sunday, October 7, 2012

The funeral

I just came back from my Uncle's funeral and what a funeral it was.  I have never seen anything like it.  My family is from a small town of approximately 5000 people.  My Uncle was the former fire chief, and EMS worker, electrician and Alderman.  Of the 5000 people in the town, I would say at least 500 came to pay respects to his family.  It was the most incredible thing I've ever seen.  The visitation went for over 3 hours.  The funeral procession was only 1.5 miles long, but it took almost 15min to get to the grave site.  There were fire trucks leading the way with ambulances and fire trucks from nearby towns all along the route.  As the procession went down Main Street, people came out of their businesses to watch.  Marquis expressed people's sadness for his unexpected passing.  The town hung all their flags normally reserved for holidays such as the 4th of July and all were flown at half mast.  It was very heart warming to see just how much people respected and cared for my uncle and his family. 

It was truly inspiring to watch.  My uncle must have been done something right with his life.

During this visit I was fortunate to have the opportunity to read an excerpt from a county annal about my great great great grandfather.  The writing was truly exquisite and formed an image in my mind of a man who was for lack of a better word, a bad ass.  The book mentioned that his eyes "shown with lightening and his voice reverberated with thunder".  "His sons and slaves formed a militia that even the army was afraid to exacerbate."  There was more, but the general gist was that my great great great grandfather was not some one to trifle with.  He helped to settle the west and while I'm sure he was not perfect, it would be wonderful to be defined the way he was.

Both my uncle and great great great grandfather provide an example that I want to follow.  And I hope I can pass on traits such as integrity, a value for hard work and responsibility to my children.

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