Another Goodbye

One of the hard things as your family grows up is that those who have gone before us start to leave us. My husband and I are now in our fifties, which means our parents, aunts and uncles are all in their seventies, eighties and nineties.

In the past two years my family has lost my great aunt Charlotte, my mother's brother Bud (Rollin) and my dad lost his brother Ira last summer.  Sweet, loving and fun-loving people who will be missed.

My dad's oldest brother died this week. Neal Jacobsen Hillyard Jr. was such a sweet man. He lost his wife Nona years ago, and I know he's missed her every day. Knowing they are reunited again is the only bright spot in knowing he's gone. That and the knowledge that he's out of pain now, after having battled pancreatic cancer for the past couple of years.

My sister and her husband are driving my parents to Salt Lake for the funeral, for which I am grateful. I'm sad I won't be able to be there in person, but my heart is full of memories and I will be thinking about my family, all of them, as they say goodbye.

I'm so grateful for the knowledge that this is only a temporary separation and that we will all be reunited once again.

Neal Jacobsen Hillyard Jr.

August 17, 1920 - September 14, 2011