Honoring a great man

This morning, my uncle passed into the next life. He was a great man. He will be missed. He is rejoicing with being with his mom and dad and brother and others he loved that have passed on.
The last time I saw him was last summer at my grandma's (his mom's) funeral.

He was a great uncle and a great man. Just a few of the things I will remember or cherish about him:

• He was a giant kid. He had all these new toys he'd bought for when his grand-nieces and grand-nephews visited. He would annoy my aunt with his need to bring out so many to entertain my kids. He didn't fool anybody. It was really for him that he brought them out.
• He loved to play games. My earliest memories include playing "Oh Heck!" at his house until wee hours of the morning on New Year's Eve.
  
• He served. He served where ever and whenever he was needed. He has been a temple worker for years and years and years.
• He loved family. There were times that I didn't have much time to visit my grandma, let alone make a trip across town to visit him, too. ALWAYS if I was in town, he and his wife came to be there and spend time with me and my family. A visit from us was a time to put everything else on hold. I appreciated that.
• He loved to travel. The yearly, and sometimes more frequent trips, were almost legend. They drove across the country stopping whenever they felt the urge. I am grateful that one of those urges took them to my town. We got to spend K's birthday sightseeing with them. It was awesome. They flew. He had conferences and seminars in Europe and they would go and make a vacation out of it. Since he was quite young when he died, I am so grateful that he took these opportunities to travel with his wife.

The death of a loved one is always difficult. I am grateful for some text conversations with my cousin this morning. He said his dad looked so peaceful and that that, in turn, brought him peace. We chatted about how grateful we are that we have the gospel of Jesus Christ, we know families are forever, and we know we will see our loved ones again. I am so grateful for this knowledge. It makes me even more long for the day of being sealed to CK. I want to be sure I am worthy to live with this wonderful man forever. It can't happen soon enough.