The one with Mima's funeral and my fantastic family

Soren and I took a weekend trip to my grandmas funeral. He was such a sweet boy on the plane and stole many hearts. The flights were uneventful and for only one of them did he actually need to be a lap child as all the kind souls around me always offered him their seat next to me and grabbed another empty chair (far far away) on the plane before take off. He was quiet and adorable and delighted to have my full attention all day. The flights were great! 

I don't blame Soren for falling asleep on the drive from Gilbert to Lordsburg. There's not a whole lot to look at out the window. 

This is the most color I saw in the desert. 

Lordsburg and Virden are pretty lonely little towns, now. Most of the business have closed and the windows are boarded up. But even though it just felt sad and tired to look at, the people who live there are happy and full of life. And most of them are somehow related to me. Even the restaurant (yes, THE restaurant, there is only one in town) the other patrons stopped to ooh and ahhh over Soren and said, "look at that red hair! He must be a Hatch!" 

This old closed Montgomery Ward is next door to my great Aunt June's house. It is sad and run down, but once I walked in the door at Aunt June and Uncle Alan (Hookie)'s house, I felt like I was in my grandma's old home. Everything was the same! The photos, the crocheted lace tablecloths and doilies, and the many paintings of desert landscapes that somehow portray a beauty that I've never before been able to see. That was always  one of my grandmas gifts, she found beauty in everything God created and sometimes just had to stop and take in how pretty a flower or colorful tree was. She collected simple, pretty things like seashells when they lived near the beach in Ca and on her mission to the Virgin Islands. She also loved turquoise, tiny collector spoons, roses and pearls. 

We drove past my grandma's old house, which no longer has her beautiful rosé bushes, but does sport a new colorful blue roof. One of my first memories of snow was in the driveway at this house. 

There were only 35 people in church in the Lordsburg ward on Sunday. I will admit I felt envious of their beautiful old building ;) and there is a covered gravel pavilion across the street for church use, with a big sign on it naming it after my Uncle Alan. He was very humble when I asked him about it and only said, "how about that? I don't know why they chose me!" But I am sure it is because of the years of service he has given to the members there. I think he served as bishop for like 16 years in that ward. 

On the day of the funeral, there where many people there to honor my grandma, even though she hadn't lived in  New Mexico in almost 2 decades. 

At the viewing I got to visit grandmas brother Roy and Aunt Sunny

Grabdma's brother Harvey and Aunt Vanita. 

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Grandmas sister, June, and Uncle Hookie

I'll tell you something about June. Other than her height and red hair, she sure looks and sounds like my MiMa. Their small hands were shaped and felt the same, their voices and sense of humor are the same and they laugh the same. I swear grandma had the same watch. Actually, that probably WAS grandmas watch as June kept teasing about her sister-rights to grandmas clothes. 

June is still sharp as a tack and more hip with technology than I am. She showed me her iPhone and we took her first selfie together. 

The funeral was beautiful. My mom read from Mimas life story and told some of my favorite stories about grandma growing up in an adobe hut with a cheesecloth roof. They were poor and humble and happy and rich with love for one another in her family. 

Driving through the desert back to Tucson, I asked my mom what it must have been like when my grandma saw the ocean for the first time, after a life in the dry and dusty desert. My mom told me her story of when she was in fifth grade, grandma and grandpa took the family out to visit my Uncle Woody and Aunt Irene in southern Ca. They got there and just decided to stay! They moved into an apartment on the fifth floor near Hollywood blvd. From Quonset huts and simple adobe walls and homesteads to Hollywood in the late 1950's and playing on the roof of an apartment building and crossing under Hollywood Blvd through a creepy tunnel to get to school. Talk about a change of scenery! My mom had stories about going to school where they filmed Leave it to Beaver and being in the same classes as some of the Mickey Mouse Club kids. My grandpa drive a Hostess delivery truck and aunt Tami and Aunt Lisa were just babies in California while Uncle Sam and Uncle Rey stayed in  New Mexico with Roy and Sunny to finish High school. 

I know my grandmother had a fierce love for the beach but her desert roots ran deep within her and eventually they called her back home. 

The Virden cemetery is more of an experience than a place. It truly fits the "middle of nowhere" description. There are only a handful of last names there. Jones, Payne, Hatch, Romney, etc. and some of the graves are nothing more than an orderly pile of rocks with a marker on them. This dry little cemetery really gives you that feeling of "dust to dust". 

The burial was lovely. All of the grandsons were present to participate as pallbearers and my sweet grandmother's body was laid to rest next to her parents, her great love, my grandpa Sam, and their son who died after only a few days of life. 

I know the reunion with Sam and her parents must be wonderful. I also feel so much joy and relief for my grandma that she finally receives vindication for all the hope a mother must hang onto for years after losing her child. 60+ years later and she is together again with her son. This reunion is what makes the decades of waiting while pressing forward all worth it. I am thankful for my forever family and for the spirit of togetherness and connection that I felt in the dusty little Virden cemetery.  

My great grandfather Lynn (who my mom

Is named after) 

My great grandmother (Maudie) who's dress I brought back from New Mexico with me.)

And for my little Corbin Mac, I hunted that cemetery for-ev-er in the gross 100* mid-day heat with Scott and HolleeAnn and my great uncles Harvey and Roy and some of their children to find my great Uncle Lynn McKnight "Mack" Hatch (grandma's other brother) where Corbin's middle name comes from. 

My family is awesome. Thank you, Mima for the opportunity to get me together with all of my siblings, if only for 1 day, for the first time in years. 

Scotty(37), Mark (45 in a few weeks...is that right?! Mark-o you're getting old, brother!), Amy (41), HolleeAnn (43), and me (32)

I listed our names and ages above because our avid journaling grandmother would have done the same. She also would've placed us in age order, because "some day when you are all old and look different, it will be harder to tell you apart." 

Other great memories from the whirlwind weekend trip were these two cutie cousins together! Soren and Nico had fun eating and swimming and running and napping together. I ❤❤❤ that I have a couple kid the same age as my sisters' and brothers' children. 

The bachelor room with king Uncle Scott.  Garrett, Brock, Zachary, and cousin Sam learned some Texas Hold em with starburst, a mini fridge full of soda, a guy movie, and the scent of axe body spray. Brock proudly claimed, "Scott went all in and I cleaned him out!" 

Garrett is a baby whisperer. Soren loves him. 

My dad being dad.

The new Gilbert, Az temple is beautiful. 

Obviously. Yes, both burgers are mine. 

Grandma snuggles.

One of my favorite moments of the weekend was when my aunts opened up a carton of blue bell ice cream, poured homemade hot fudge over the top, said, "lunch is ready!" And passed our spoons. These are definitely my people! I love them so much. 

These guys. Sam and Myrtle Hatch Tenney's 22 grandchildren all together in one place. That group hug has a lot of love for each other, and for you, Mima. You'll me missed dearly until we're together again.