Uncle Lynn

at the end of january i got a call from my dad telling me that my uncle lynn had passed away.  the last time i saw him was last june when matt, quinn, and i drove to nevada for a friends wedding in reno.  we stayed in carson city at my grandma julies house for the weekend and had such a great time.  it went by way too quickly and before we knew it, it was time to go.  we did, of course, leave later than we had planned and were rushing and rushing to get on the road.  matt is a REAL STICKLER when it comes to timing in these situations so he was basically having a small panic attack thinking about getting through the mountains before dark.  on our way to the freeway i was just sick with a nagging feeling that i NEEDED to go see my great aunt pat before we left.  i couldn't shake it, and by some miraculous act of God, matt didn't fight me on it.  we were literally seconds from pulling onto the freeway, and he just turned us around...because he's wonderful.  aunt pat lives in the same small trailer park that my dads oldest brother, uncle lynn, lived in but we had already seen him for a little bit that weekend so we weren't planning to stop and see him again.  well, it turns out that this small trailer park was a tiny maze and we got real turned around and ended up driving right passed uncle lynn sitting out on his porch having a smoke.  we stopped and asked him for directions from inside the car, planning to just keep on driving but somehow, we landed in his living room. we chatted, quinn played, lynn showed me some copper treasures he'd been collecting and about 20 or 30 minutes later we were back in the car headed over to pats place.  quinn loved uncle lynn.  it didnt make any sense because uncle lynn was 30 feet tall (from a 2 foot tall persons perspective) and has a thundery enormous voice even when he whispers, but for some reason quinn, and every child that ever met him, was drawn to him like a magnet. he was so gentle and sweet and kind, and laughed HUGE, LOUD laughs.  i loved seeing aunt pat, she's very wonderful, and i was really sure that the nagging feeling was for us to stop and see her.  and when we got back on the freeway i breathed a big sigh of relief.  i was so glad and relieved that i had listened to the still small voice of the holy spirit telling me and matt to ignore our schedule, stop worrying about timing, that this would definitely be worth it. and now i know, that the holy spirit was so very graciously weaving in a way for my quinn to see his great uncle for the last time, and for me to receive one last enormous hug and hear his gigantic voice in a seemingly meaningless conversation about restoring antique copper.  i am so grateful that i got to have those last moments.  our God is so good at his job.  
these pictures are from the funeral weekend.  it was the weirdest emotional roller coaster i've ever been on.  personally mourning the loss of uncle lynn, watching my dad and uncles mourn the loss of their big brother, seeing my grandma try to keep herself together and control the heartbreak of losing her her quinn...her first baby boy. and yet at the same time it was so unexplainably wonderful to see all of my cousins and uncles and aunties i just couldn't even stand it.