Saying Goodbye

The day after New Years, Jason, Kelsie and Rachel left for California. They had the opportunity to say goodbye to our wonderful friend, Verita Thompson, who was losing her battle with cancer. She and her family befriended Jason while he was on his mission, and she has been a second mother to him ever since. The kids called her Grandma T. and she spoiled them terribly. It was a sad but rewarding experience for them to thank her and say their goodbyes. They came home on Thursday and on Saturday me, Brinlee and my sister Jamie flew out to say our goodbyes. However, earlier that day she took a sudden turn for the worse and two hours after we got there she returned to live with her loving Heavenly Father. I was grateful to get there in time to express my love and thank her for being a wonderful Grandmother to our family. We were so lucky because the Salt Lake Airport closed a few hours after we left, what a blessing it was to have left when we did. Brinlee and I came home on Sunday, and the whole family flew back to California on Tuesday for the funeral. Talk about sky miles!! Her funeral was such a wonderful memorial, she was such a loving women, taking in several teenagers and raising them as her own. It didn't matter to her that she had not given birth to them, they were hers while they were in her home and forever after that. It was a huge reunion of all the kids that Verita and her husband (Marvin) had taken into their family. Jason and I feel so privileged to be among those she loved. We loved her dearly and will miss her. These are two of my favorite pictures of her throughout the years, the first is at Legoland in 2001 with the girls, and the second is of her meeting the twins. One of the memories we talked about at the funeral was when her and Marvin dropped everything to come help me for two weeks when I was on bedrest, Brinlee was her shadow and she loved it. She was excited that a few months later she got to come back and visit after the twins were home to hold them.