About a beautiful boy who died

I am back from Michigan, people. 

It was an epic trip. 

Which would be impossible to completely cover in one blog post.

Well, I could do it but I have a feeling it would be one of those posts. 

You know the ones I am talking about. 

Where people have like 19 family pictures and they are talking about this great uncle's cousin and you start skimming really fast through the pictures and wondering if post secret has been updated lately. 

Or what you want for lunch. 

So, in order to save us all from extreme "I don't know these people, nor do I care" type boredom, I am going to just mention the highlights over the course of a few posts. 

Brace yourselves.

The Midwest just got really, really interesting. 

The number one highlight from my trip (in my mind at least) was this. 

We found my uncle's grave.

 My dad hasn't seen it in over 60 years.

 My mom saw it 35 years ago.

Just as a refresher, my dad's oldest brother was hit by a car at age 4 and died. 

My dad was born about 10 months later. 

My grandmother never got over his death and eventually couldn't even go to his grave site. 

I, of course, am all for seeing graves and dramatically leaving flowers and saying prayers. 

My dad is very different. 

He spent about an hour cleaning up the headstone.

 Removing the overgrown grass, scrubbing it down with a brush, pouring water over it, creating a planter space for the flowers we brought. 

 

My father is such an example for me of true charity. 

He didn't stare at the grave in silent reflection.

 He cleaned it up, removed about 30 years worth of dirt and dust, and made it shine. 

I kept thinking that his mother would have been so happy to see him watching out of for his big brother. 

So, while there were a lot of cool things from this trip- including crossing this off my bucket list

Leave flowers at the grave of my Grandpa and Grandma Hinsdale

Finding my Uncle Ray was the highlight of my trip.

 I'll never forget that moment.

I love that his grave is shaded by a pine tree.

I love that it's in a little, quiet town.

I am so happy my dad got to see it.

It was my dad's birthday when we found it.

I remember the first time I looked for my uncle online.

I couldn't find any record of him having ever lived and I looked for days.

And then I found him.

On March 15th.

His birthday.

God works in mysterious ways.

But He is a God of miracles and a God of families and I know that more today than ever before.

Lori Ann

p.s.- Up next- the Flight 93 memorial and running into the Amish. And a bus called 'Special Ed's' that sells donuts. And my concerns about why they haven't been shut down by the department of health.