We Celebrated Poppa's Life…

 

My father-in-law, James Eidson passed away on June 27, 2014. He was very clear that he did not want to have a funeral, that he did want to be cremated, and that he wanted his friends and family to come together in happiness and have a party when he passed on. So, last Sunday, July 6, three days after what would have been his 85th birthday, we as a family got together to celebrate his life. We ate, we reminisced about the good times with Poppa, we released balloons to float off to the heavens with messages of love for him, and just enjoyed the day together. As the photographer of the day, it was my job to take photos of each family group, to carry on the tradition of family reunions of the past. Here is the short family album from the day. I will show the party pics next time:

Fabgrandpa is the oldest son of James and Virginia. Our family photo includes me, Fabgrandpa, our daughter Becky, and her husband Rafe. My nephew Daniel took this photo for me.

Rick is the next oldest that was in attendence at the party. Shown in the photo are his family members, left to right, Back row: Rick, Kris, Ashely (Kris’s wife) Karen (Rick’s wife) and Jennifer, Rick and Karen’s daughter. Front row, left to right, Kodi, Kendall, and Khloe, Kris and Ashley’s daughters.

Mike and Jody have a very large family. The ones shown here are his sister-in-law Tracy in the hat, daughter Kinsley, Mike, Jody, son Stephen, daughter Tristan, her husband Jason, son Matthew, Alicia (Daniel’s wife) son Jeremy, son Daniel holding Kathryn. In front, granddaughters Kykeigh and Stella. Not shown are four grandchildren, and a step-son, and Kinsley’s husband.

I wanted to have pictures of Nana with her sons. Here she is with Rick, Jim and Mike.

And this last one, is Nana, my mother-in-law, with her daughters-in-law. Karen (Rick’s wife), Jody (Mike’s wife) and me (Jim’s wife, and my name is also Karen).

My daughter, Becky, had this to say:

Today was amazing guys! I know it was a lot of work and the pictures were a pain, but it was SO worth it! I was thinking on the way home, those great grand kids playing today were playing on the same land that we played on 30 plus years ago.. Those great grand kids will need pictures to sort through and memories to laugh about some day! We owe that to them! It seriously makes my heart smile to see you guys with your kids! Watching Stephen with Kathryn today reminded me of when I was little with Mike..

It was a fun day, one that I will always remember. I loved my father in law, Poppa. He was a big fan of my blog, and if I did not write something in four or five days, he would always call me to see if I was alright. He never commented, but would always discuss things I wrote with me whenever we saw each other in person. He would sometimes tell me to write something about him. So, Poppa, this is for you. I love you. I miss you. And I know if we meet again, you will have a lot to talk to me about.