Good Bye, Uncle Jack

Last Friday my Uncle Jack died. He had been sick for a couple weeks this time, but has had a rough time for about the past 5 years. He is not really my uncle, he and his wife MaryAnn were really good friends with my grandparents (on my mom's side). I have called them aunt and uncle ever since I was a little girl. Since my grandparents died they have been like another set of grandparents to me. I knew when he passed I had to go to Michigan to say good bye. Uncle Jack and Aunt MaryAnn live in Michigan, but winter down here in Fort Myers, but with Uncle Jack being sick they hadn't made it down here yet this year. My mom also wanted to be there for the services, so we went up there with Madison. We flew out last Saturday and got back Thursday.  It was a sad trip, but also a good trip. We were able to spend time with my some of my dad's family and see some of my mom's cousins too. Oh, and we also got to see snow, it was my third time and Madison's first. The services for Uncle Jack were sad, but nice. Sunday night was the viewing from 2-8pm. We came up from my Grandma's house that afternoon and stayed for about 3 hours. Madison did pretty well. We stayed in the back and talked with some of my mom's Aunt's, Uncles and cousins and some of Uncle Jack's family. We left the viewing around 6pm to grab some dinner and check in to our hotel. It was about a 45 minute drive from there to my grandma's house so with the snowy roads we thought we would stay closer so as to avoid the roads and be able to sleep in a bit longer since the funeral was at 10am the next morning.

I will forever remember Uncle Jack for his quick wit and humor. He always made everyone laugh. I will also remember the way I would always kiss the top of his head when I saw him, it was something I started doing as a little girl. I even sent him my hair once. He had always said if I cut my hair to send it to him for a toupee, so when I was in 7th grade I did just that! Uncle Jack was an avid sports fan too. His favorite was Notre Dame. He loved to hassle me about the Gators! I will miss him so much!

I am so glad we made the trip up to Michigan. Despite the sadness of the reason we were there it was a good trip. Madison did very well. She didn't have a real nap the entire time we were gone. She was only able to have short naps in the car on our way to various places. But thankfully she was very well behaved and the center of everyone's attention. (These pictures were taken last April when they were in Florida.)