"Gone, but Never Forgotten"

It's been 6 months since my Uncle Rick suddenly passed and 2 months since my Grandma Adrienne lost her battle to cancer. It's crazy to think about all of the different emotions people feel when they lose someone. I know everyone handles grief differently and my experience is no exception. 

I hear my grandma through the chords of a piano, I see her in the flight of a cardinal, and I feel her with me through the windy breeze on a sunny day. I can still hear her telling me, "Oh Dani, don't encourage him!" after telling Grandpa John that he is so comical. I can picture myself watching her put on her bright colored lipstick in the mirror on the farm. I can feel her hands on mine while teaching me how to play the piano. There are so many memories I have of her that I will cherish forever. I just never want to forget what her hugs felt like or what it sounded like when she laughed.

My uncle Rick was the biggest "kid" I know (although Marcus is a close second). He also looked at the positive side of things and I NEVER saw him with a negative attitude.  There was just something about the way he said, "Dani" that I will never forget. I will never forget the time some friends of mine and I went to Arizona to stay with Beth & Rick for Spring Break. We went into Phoenix and ate supper and rode on a horse-drawn buggy. A bird ended up pooping on me, and when Rick started laughing, everyone else followed. His laugh was contagious and I hope to never forget the way it sounded. Another memory is him picking Marcus and I up in front of our hotel in Vegas in his big white work truck. He took us to a great Mexican restaurant where we all laughed, cried because the salsa was so hot, and enjoyed Coronas & margaritas while eating way too much food. Rick was one of those uncles you always wanted to be around because of his carefree attitude who always wanted to have fun and every minute spent with him was far from dull. 

These two amazing individuals are "gone, but never forgotten" and it's posts like these where I feel I have to document my thoughts and memories, so I don't forget how truly amazing they really were. 

A beautiful angel is all that is here

Saying O'Lord please leave me here

Not ready to leave but has to go

Wants to go back but God says no

A husband and children

Grand, great grandchildren and friends

A meaningful life that suddenly ends

And angel is what she was meant to be

Now think of all that she can see

Watching over her family night and day

Saying I love you in her own special way

In the night we sleep and in the day we cry

While she watches us all from her star in the sky