RIP Grandma LaRue

Today is the 20 anniversary of my grandma LaRue's death. She died a little over 5 months before I was born from diabetes. Today my parent's and I went to NYC to go to MOMA. We stopped at a diner right off of times square and my mom mentioned this to me. She said when she attended her funeral the bishop was talking about how her soul and mine were probably meeting in passing. I've always felt an strong connection with that name although not knowing the person it was passed on from. I feel that without knowing her we do share something more than blood. Hopefully I carry on her name honorably. One day I hope to pass it on to one of my children, I think it is so pretty.
Above is a picture of Christmas Meadows in Utah. My father's family used to go up there in the summertime as kids. They continued the tradition on as they grew older and after LaRue passed. In more recent years the siblings began to bring their children. I have been lucky enough to experience the magic of this place.
We would stay for somewhere between 2-4 days. There was a lot of fishing and card playing. One year my dad and I walked up and down the river fishing and we stopped at this one bank to have a snack... I remember they were those strawberry fruit snacks. He talked about staying there as a kid in a cabin across the river that a family friend owned instead of the campground where we then stayed. He rarely talked to me about life with his family because he is different from them and doesn't like to revisit some of that past. He spoke of how his mother rarely came out to fish but he remembered her one day just across the bank. And he pointed and this wind blew and hit the grass right where I had imagined her standing. He told me how she didn't get out there to fish with the boys often but when she did she enjoyed it.
It's my dad's favorite place in the world and possibly mine as well. Hopefully we can make it back there soon and I know grandma LaRue will always be watching us fish there.
I wish that this holiday season my dad's family could mend their relationships not to be an incredibly close knit family but to at least have no anger towards one another. If not for the sake of each other than at least for my grandpa in his last years and lord knows LaRue would have wanted it as well. Rest in peace grandma you are missed.