Today was the funeral for Uncle Stan, Wyatt’s father’s brother. He died somewhat unexpectedly from complications from surgery last week.
Uncle Stan was mentally handicapped due to complications from birth. Inspite of this, he lived “on his own” in an apartment in Provo with other special needs room-mates (he did have care-takers check in on him several times a day). He rode the bus on his own to work every day. He worked at the BYU cafeteria. When Wyatt and I were dating, Wyatt’s care for Uncle Stan was one of the things that really impressed me. He would go visit his uncle all the time, taking him to the 7-11 for Big Gulps, or out to lunch. Uncle Stan was also always at the Christensen home for every holiday or family get together. Of the few times I’ve seen Wyatt choke up, most of those situations have been regarding Uncle Stan, or other handi-capped people that have touched Wyatt’s life. Wyatt has always had a soft spot for people with physical or mental challenges. I know today was a hard day for Wyatt.
It was neat to see the Christensen clan together though. It was actually a first for me–and I’ve been in the family for over five years now. Harry (Wyatt’s dad) is #8 of 11 children, most of whom don’t live in Utah. Before this I’d only met three or four of Wyatt’s aunts & uncles, and even fewer cousins. But this brought all the siblings (of Harry) together. I took the opportunity and requested they allow me to take a family picture of Hope (Wyatt’s Grandmother) and all of her children. (With Uncle Stan, three of Wyatt’s uncles are now passed away though). We also took some family pictures of Wyatt’s brothers and sisters with Grandma Christensen.