Remembering Those We Love... Memorial Day 2009

We celebrated Memorial Day this year just like every year, on Saturday in Idaho Falls. My Grandpa Mangum is buried there, and so is Steve's nephew, Tanner.

Grandpa Mangum (my mom's dad) died just a couple of months before Bryson was born (August 1999). He was a sweet, gentle man who was suffering from Parkinsons' Disease. He fell, broke his pelvis, and died from heart failure in the hospital. (He had heart problems for as long as I can remember.) Things I remember about him are the back brace he wore that I could feel when he wrapped me in a huge bear hug, brushing and "fixing" his hair with barrettes and bows, "buzzing bees" and the way his face looked when he buzzed his lips, and how much he loved the grand kids. His greatest love, after his family was genealogy. One year for Christmas, he gave us each a big book with copies of all the work he had completed for my mom's line. After he passed away, I was at his house with my Mom, sister, and Grandma. We were looking through one of his many volumes of pedigree charts, and I found the perfect name for my son who was coming in just a couple of months (poor kid, his parents couldn't decide on a name until then). Someone, way back in my family line, had the last name of Bryson. It just clicked, and fit with the middle name of Lowell (Steve's family name). So, every time I think of Grandpa, I think of him and Bryson sitting up there together in heaven, plotting, guiding and helping me find the perfect name for him.

Nathan, Kyle & Macey (David's kids) and Joshua
Cute great-grand kids cleaning Grandpa's headstone

Grandpa's headstone and Memorial Day flowers

Grandpa's Military Marker
(He served in WWII in Iceland)

My mom and dad, (my brother) David's family, and my family spent time at Tautphaus Park together having a barbecue and celebrating Grandpa's life and my mom's birthday. We played catch, croquet, got a kite tangled in the tree, fell off the swings, and ate amazingly wonderful hamburgers and the most divine chocolate cake! We had a fun time together. After the barbecue, we stopped to look at the fountain in the park, and went to visit Tanner's grave.

Tanner Webster (Steve's sister's baby) passed away almost 17 years ago. He was 6 months old and suffocated when he got stuck between the crib and mattress. As you'd expect, Kathy and Richard had a really hard time when died. It shook the family up pretty hard. Right after we were married and lived in Rexburg, Steve and I used to go over to their house in Idaho Falls every Saturday. I spent the day with his sweet sister and her cute kids doing laundry and playing with baby Tanner while Steve was at work. He's the one that made me so baby hungry the first time. A few months after he died, I found out I was expecting our first baby. It must have been so hard for Kathy to be happy for me, though I never would have known it. She is such an amazing person.

Tanner's Headstone

At the cemetery Saturday, we talked about how Tanner died and how sad Kathy and Richard were when he went back to live with Heavenly Father. After a while, when we were ready to go, Bryson was just standing there, eyes glued to the headstone. I walked back over to him, put my arm around him, and asked if he was okay. The floodgates opened, and the tears streamed down his face. With a big hug, he told me, "Mom, it's just so sad..." We took a few more minutes than usual at the cemetery talking about Heavenly Father's great Plan of Happiness and how lucky Tanner was to be born, get his body and get to go right back home to his Heavenly Father. We talked about that even though it is really sad and hard for Kathy and Richard, they are okay now because they know that he's with Heavenly Father. They will get to be with him again someday, because of what Jesus did for us. It was a really special moment together.