All Her Children

We laid our beloved Aunt Gwen (my dad's baby sister) to rest today in Rush City, Minnesota. She was 93 years young and we could feel her young spirit with us.

Since she and Uncle Swede (who died in 1998) did not have children, her wish was that her nieces and nephew be her pallbearers. I should say "honorary" since there's obviously quite a few of us. And that's just who made the snowy drive over.

You might see some purple in here since that was her favorite color. You'll also see that among her "children" are all 8 of us R's and two of our cousins who trekked up from St. Louis with their mom. My uncle there stayed home and was able to watch the funeral service live streamed on TV. I told my aunt I could have done that too – but the hugs feel too good to miss out on.

I hit the road by 6 a.m. and with snowy roads and some road construction (so much for winter and road construction being separate seasons) it took about 4 1/2 hours. And 480 roundtrip miles later, got home early this evening.

Long day, but always great to see family and celebrate someone who lived life to the fullest and often took us along for the ride! 💜 Rest in peace, Aunt Gwen. 💜