Sunday, October 16, 2011

You Can't Take it With You

My uncle passed away this week after a valiant battle with leukemia. He was an amazing & godly husband to his wife Linda (my aunt passed away 9 years ago- he was an amazing husband to her as well) and father to 3 great sons.  My Daddy and I traveled to Little Rock for the funeral. We were gone for a total of 27 hours- 17 of which were spent in the car. It was great to see so much of my mom's family but it made me sad to realize how long it's been since I saw most of them- and how much I miss my Mommy. 


I have three cousins and they all spoke at my uncle's funeral.  They did an amazing job of sharing great things about their dad- specifically his strong faith in God and his belief in Jesus Christ. We all left the funeral feeling like we truly celebrated my uncle's life!


My middle cousin Greg shared a story that was absolutely hysterical and had us all laughing through our tears!


He first shared that when he married his wife years ago he was changing out of his tuxedo at the end of the reception he realized that although he had a jacket and slacks, he had no shirt. So his sweet Daddy literally gave him "the shirt off of his back"- which wasn't surprising at all given his nature.


Greg then shared that this past Wednesday night while staying at his Dad and step-mother's house he opened the closet door of the room he was staying in to get out his outfit for the viewing the following day.  When he opened the closet door he found that his suit was not there. As he stared into the closet he had a sinking feeling.  He quickly turned to his older brother and said...."Which closet did Linda get dad's suit out of?" To which his brother replied "This one!"


Greg grabbed the phone and immediately called the funeral home. Since it was 1:30am he reached their answering service and left a message.  He eventually received a return call from someone at the funeral home who told him "I am so sorry but YOUR suit.....is on your dad. And you know....we alter those suits." 


And so although they say "You can't take it with you!" - my uncle definitely did! He was buried wearing his son's suit! 


(One of my favorite parts of this story is that Linda (my uncle's wife) did not know this had happened until my cousin told the story at the funeral! He told her "I know you wanted my dad to be buried in the suit you were married in, but he wasn't". So funny!)