It can all end in the blink of an eye

We lost FG's aunt & uncle this week.  There are some positives to the whole tragedy:
They were together.
They were doing what they absolutely loved.
It was instant.

They adored riding their motorcycle together.  That's how they died.  Together on a beautiful road in CO on their bike.  They were hit by a woman who was under the influence and crossed over the double yellow on a curve.  They were not entirely innocent - they were hugging the line and were not wearing helmets.  I did tell FG that maybe that was actuallly a good thing.  If they had on helmets, that could possibly have allowed them to feel being thrown off the bike and their injuries.  They would have felt the pain in their bodies from being hit by a car head on at a fairly high speed.  I doubt it would have saved their lives in that situation.

FG and I went up to their house today.  Their 3 sons were there cleaning things out; keeping themselves busy.  One of their daughter-in-law's was dusting and found a little box.  She opened it an it contained "wishes" or "prayer notes" that FG's aunt wrote down and tucked away in the box.  It made us all cry.

Lives just gone.  Weird. 

FG has to go to Finland for work so he won't be here for the service where we (shhhhh, don't tell!) go to their favorite spot on the lake and drop their ashes.  I'll go, take the kids and bring along my MIL.  She was their sister-in-law for 33 years so she absolutely has a right to go, even if she's not married to FG's dad any more.

We were close in proximity but over the past few years didn't see each other much.  I blame that a lot on the bitch that FIL is married to.  She doesn't like us so she would say little things that made us not so popular with the rest of the family.  And because we just let a lot of it go and didn't necessarily "fight" back, we were the ones who hung back and didn't see the family much.  I am fairly sure FG will not let that keep happening.  We'll go and see his cousins a bit more than once every few years.  Their kids and our kids are the same ages - they should know each other too. 

When we said goodbye today, FG's cousin said all he wants is a heated ping pong match.  They played a lot as kids.  FG is one of 26 cousins - yes, first cousins!  They are all grown (FG is one of the youngest at age 40) , married and with kids of their own.  When we have family gatherings for his side of the family it's HUGE.  9 siblings & SO's, 26 grandkids & SO's, countless great-grankids and I would venture there are a couple of great-great-grandkids by now.  The service for the aunt & uncle is estimated to be over 500 people.   Where the hell am I gonna park?!