Last week I was in Phoenix. Part ministry, part work, part personal therapeutic time... it was a long hard week. I got home late Monday night after a long day of travel and a lot of emotions.

Sean’s grandfather had been steadily declining since Wednesday, but it sounded like he had somewhat stabilized. I was going to go see him Monday night, but felt like I needed to sleep first.

Bright and early Tuesday morning, I went to pick up a rental to replace the van that’s having major warranty work done and went to see Richard. He was sleeping when I arrived but looked much frailer than when I left. I sat down in his living room and worked for a while until I heard him stirring.

I went in to see if he needed help getting around, and he looked up at me as if he were looking beyond…

Just a few minutes later, all was quiet, and he was gone.

It didn’t seem like he saw me Tuesday morning. If I had to guess, I would say he was seeing a lifetime of friendly faces welcoming him to a place we can only dream of.

Today, we finished cleaning out his apartment here. Three months ago, we moved him into this place. My how life has changed since then.

Thanks to family for hauling me around, helping care for kiddos, for rescuing Ean while we finished up, and to everyone for holding us up as we adjust again suddenly.

Richard will be greatly missed. I learned a lot from him about life, love, and family. Getting to really know him these last couple of years gave me a much better window into who Sean is and where he came from. And I am thankful to have been gifted such an amazing lineage through marriage to support my given family.