Sunset

Sunset, as in "Sunrise, Sunset." 

I'm mostly sharing this here because I started this with my post a couple of months ago (the one that was sitting there for so long).

This past week my uncle passed away.  I think I told you before, but he had a massive heart attack a year ago.  Then a couple of months ago he received a heart transplant.  Things were okay for awhile, until he caught an infection, had a stroke, and went into a coma. This week they brought him out of the coma and took him off of life support and a few hears later he was gone.  I never knew him super well, but I still love him and his family and I hurt for my aunt and cousins (including the ones in India and Afghanistan).  And it's sobering because he was fairly young.  And my aunt is definitely too young to be a widow.  She's right beside my mother in age.  Like I am to Rachel, Aunt Melinda is to my mother.  And so I grieve for her.

A few other thoughts.  Almost four years ago, when I was in Michigan (can you believe it's been that long?), I had the option to go to Nauvoo one weekend, but I felt I should go see Aunt Melinda instead.  And now I'm extra grateful I did.  Here's a link to the fun blog post I did about that trip.  I'm so grateful I got to see Uncle Ron (he's the R in the alphabet) then and that I got to spend time with Aunt Melinda when her life was "normal." 

Here's Uncle Ron and Aunt Melinda.  And some of their boys (John, in the middle, is the one on a mission in India right now).

But the picture I really wish I could show you (but I don't own a copy) is the one I looked at all my life, on their page in the family album.  It's a picture of young Uncle Ron and Aunt Melinda in front of the Jordan River Temple on the day they were married there.  For time and all eternity. 

And I feel happy.

My growing testimony of the reality of Christ's resurrection plus the reality that the power by which they were married is not a power given by men but a power that comes from God helps me to know that things will be alright.  Not only does Uncle Ron still live, but his body will be reunited with his spirit. And best of all, their family unit will continue to exist forever.



Which was about where my thoughts had ended up until today when I was sitting in church, thinking about it.  And I thought of other happy things.  Uncle Ron is Jewish and was raised Jewish.  Then life went on and he went to dental school. There he met a remarkable young man, who was Mormon.  Through that young man's example, Uncle Ron learned about the restored gospel of Jesus Christ, was baptized and eventually received all the ordinances necessary for exaltation.  A few years after he'd been baptize he met Aunt Melinda and they have been married for about 28 years.  I think I felt an extra connection to his story, as I thought about it today, because my ward is made up largely of young people who are in graduate programs of many shapes and sizes (including some dental students) where they interact with large numbers of people who do not have the restored gospel (also, large numbers of Jewish students).  Knowing the examples they set, the light that they are in stark contrast to much of what goes on around them, I can see why Uncle Ron noticed and was drawn to his friend.  And I am grateful for that fellow classmate long ago who led Uncle Ron to the path that led to that temple sealing that means so, so much now. And will continue to mean so much throughout eternity.