celebration of life

this past weekend, T and i had the pleasure of driving down to flower mound to visit his family to remember the life of his great aunt trudy. she had passed not long ago, and after having time to grieve and process her passing, his family decided a celebration of life was the best way to memorialize her. and then, something kind of wonderful happened. since there was time to grieve, and plan for the celebration, it inadvertently became a webb family reunion. family, and friends (who are already family in our eyes) from all over the country were able to get together - some meeting for the first time, and others for the first time, in a long time. it truly was amazing to watch everyone (myself included) thrown into the mix of meeting new faces and mingling. 

the entire experience made me wish two things: one, that it was a longer weekend altogether, and two, that aunt trudy could have been there. she would have really enjoyed it. 

[looking at family photos]

saturday, was the main event, and was beautiful. there was plenty of drinks following, catching up, and snacking on delicious barbeque. then, a few family members got up to speak about their favorite memories of, or with, aunt trudy. what i loved about each story was seeing aunt trudy's spirit and fire come through with every funny moment. you'd be hard-pressed to find a dry-eye in that room from all of the laughter and tears. hearing everyone's favorite memories made me treasure meeting her, and spending time with her all the more. 

[viewing the slideshow]

[catching up]

[sweet treats]

[listening to other's favorite memories of trudy (above and below)]

[catching some of the ou/tx game]

[play time!]

sunday, most of the group headed home, but those that were still in town, got together for brunch. for those who don't know, T's cousins mark and joanna (the hosts for the entire weekend) are quite the cooks. i mean, i consider myself to be pretty skilled, but against these two...forget about it! i am still daydreaming about their homemade biscuits, and béchamel with beef tips. 

[a calm moment in the kitchen]

more laughs were had, more stories exchanged, and then, before we knew it, it was time to head back home. we could not have had a lovelier time surrounded by family remembering such a knockout of a personality that was great aunt trudy.