It's not goodbye, It's see you later!

Today I went to my Uncle Ed's funeral and while between my husband and my aunt amongst many other sobbing family members and a screaming preacher, all I could think about was growing up in the country. When my Mom and Dad separated as they did so many times Ed always welcomed my mom and her children into his home.  The memories that were made at these times are priceless to me.  The memories are enriched by a family that my Uncle and his wife Melissa had created.  My cousins, their daughters, taught me how to cross-stitch, knit, sew, dress up like a clown, lay in the sun by the barn using Crisco as sun oil (ewww), sleep in a camper beside the house, deliver newspapers in the middle of the night, use the outhouse, paint with watercolors, raise animals, bake, make funnel cake, brew tea, walk country dirt roads and most importantly they taught me sisterly love.  You see, I would have never known that kind of love.  I would have never known how to do any one of those things without them.  I am my mother's only daughter.
These memories can't be anywhere near as many memories as Ed's children have of him and for that I am grateful and I know they are.  I am praying that God will be with them as they travel through the rest of their lives here on Earth without my Uncle Ed.  I am so grateful for Ed, Melissa and their family, grateful that I shared a life with them as one of their own!   Without them I may not know what family really is!