This one's for you Aunt Connie

I took the day off work today for the 6th funeral I've been to in about 6-7 weeks... but this one was very different in so many ways. My Grandma's sister Naconna ,who I always knew as Aunt Connie, died on April 15th 2009 in her home in Salt Lake. I always liked her and she seemed to like me, she always had something nice to say to me whenever I saw her, but what I really liked about her was how honest she was. She wasn't artificial at all and if she believed in something she stuck with it no matter what. She knew the worth of a woman and was always so strong in spirit... 

The last time I saw her I was in Salt Lake visiting my grandma for the day. Me and my brother James ran around the corner on the block to where Aunt Connie lived from Grandma's.  It seems like yesterday, but it must've been awhile ago because the reason I was over there was to get some squash Aunt Connie had grown in her garden for Grandma. It never entered my mind that that would be the last time I would see her... she had been there around the corner for as long as I could remember. I guess sometimes, a lot of times, we take people for granted.

It still hasn't set in that she's actually gone. I really will miss you Aunt Connie, and I feel very blessed to have known you. I really can't express what I'm feeling right now... It's a little sadness, but mostly gratitude. I just feel very blessed to have the family that I have and that deep love all my cousins and family have for each other, such as I witnessed today at the funeral. I don't know all of you very well, but I feel connected to you all and it's because we have such wonderful progenitors such as Aunt Connie that tie us all together.

So let's do like she wanted us to and "go home, stop crying, and put on some music and start dancing".  It's a reminder of how precious life is and how family is everything.... Aunt Connie shows us that. 

Rest in Peace Aunt Connie, you will indeed be missed...