this week

This week has been really long and strenuous. Tuesday night was a dinner at my parents house for my cousins and aunts. My cousins came to town to deal with their father's death and my mom and her sister's wanted everyone to get together before the memorial. I saw... no, more like... met a cousin of mine, Vince, who I haven't seen probably since I was in kindergarten. He is older than me (I am the youngest grandchild on both sides of my family) and is married with two kids of his own and two step kids. His wife came to town with him and we all got to met her. His sister, my cousin Wendi, came to town too. It has only been 2 years since I have seen her. They all met up with their step sister, Randy, who my uncle considered one of his kids. She lives not far from my parents. They all had already dealt with gathering my uncles belongings and remains. He was cremated up north were he died. It was so nice to have this dinner to spend time with a part of my family I don't even really know. I know my aunts, because they live close and I see them often. But my cousins don't even know me. They wouldn't have recognized me if they saw me on the street, except for Wendi.
I tried to take some photos of the gathering, but it was such a somber occasion that I just took a wide shot of them talking.
My cousin Vince has the exact same voice as his father. It was so creepy to be in another room in the house and hear him talking. It is exactly the same. He has the same eyes and nose and my mom says he has the same hands as his father. They tell us that their youngest son looks just like my uncle too. His name is Tyler. They said that for Halloween he dressed up as a shark and named himself The Great White Sharkey. Sharkey is their last name (my mom's maiden name).
Wednesday afternoon was the memorial service at a funeral home. All my other cousins (those that couldn't make it Tuesday night) were there, along with friends of my uncle. My cousin Wendi's husband, Cole, led the service. He had everyone go around the room and say who they were and what their relation was to my uncle. After that, anyone who wanted to shared stories. It was only about an hour long, but it was really nice. There were pictures on poster boards showing him all thru his life. There was this one family group shot that was taken at my grandparents house that had all my aunts and uncle, spouses and all of us kids. I was front and center on the floor, smiling with my pigtails in braids, because I has probably been swimming. It was an awesome photo. My mom has a copy of it. I need to scan it so I can have a copy too.
Yesterday, my mom, dad, her sister and my cousins went up north to a ranch that my uncle used to work at and scattered his ashes. I had to work yesterday, so I didn't get to go. But my mom said it was really nice to see where he is now. My uncle had said that ranch was where he wanted his ashes to be.
It has been a tough week, but more so for my mom. She lost her brother. He had a very hard life, but he lived the life he wanted and will always be a cowboy.

edited to add: My uncle's saddle, hat and boots were on display at the memorial and I took this photo of it.