Rest in peace Mikey

This photo is of Mike's niece Jamee, her husband Mike and their son Mikey. It was taken on a family vacation we took with them back in 2000. This photo was taken at the Grand Canyon. I posted about this joint family vacation on the blog in early August.

On August 29th of this year, Mikey Young passed away at the age of 27. He died in his sleep at his parents house. I can't imagine any greater of a pain than losing your child at such a young age. Or any age for that matter.

Michael Troy Young II (Mikey) was born on October 7, 1981. He died on August 29, 2009. We attended his funeral last Thursday 9/10/09. I haven't wanted to write about any of this until now.

It seems that in the past 4 years the only time we see anyone in Mike's family is at a funeral or a wedding. Isn't that terrible that it takes those kind of events to get families together? But I guess it's better than never seeing them. Mike's Mom, better known as Nana, was the glue that held this family together. And when she died in 2005, Mike's family all went their own separate ways. We haven't kept up with his family as much.

The last time I saw Mikey was at our wedding 3 years ago. I know I have a photo of Mikey from our wedding, but the photo isn't on the computer I am currently working on. Maybe I will post it later, if I can find it.

I loved Mikey. Everyone did. He was such a joy. He was the kindest, most thoughtful young man. I know that his family will miss him terribly. He is survived by his parents Jamee & Mike as well as his sister Karey.

I only have one photo from the chapel where the funeral was held. It is of Mike and our grandson Gunner and was taken after the service. I can't believe how good Gunner was at the service. I have never seen him sit still for anything for longer than a few seconds. He must have been able to sense that he needed to be quiet. He was a perfect angel. Well, almost perfect.
After the funeral we were all going over to Jamee's stepdad's house for dinner. But first we (Mike, Jesse & I) stopped off at Mike's nephew John's house to see the Shelby Cobra kit car he had built.
Isn't it a beauty? The photo isn't the best as the car was parked in the garage & I mostly got glare. But in person is was spectacular. It would be so fun to drive around in this car.

Up at the Turman's we had The Wrangler BBQ Pit for dinner. The food was sooooo good. We had beef, ham, rolls, beans and coleslaw. I think one of the things we miss most about not living in El Cajon is The Wrangler and/or the BBQ Pit up in La Mesa. Yummy!!!!

Here is our daughter in law Crystal with our grandson Gunner.

My Mike and Jesse. My son Brandon wasn't able to attend as he was sick with the flu.

Karey (Jamee & Mike Young's daughter, Mikey's sister) and my Mike

Jamee (Mike's niece & Mikey's mom) talking to friends & family.

Mike (Mikey's dad, on the far right) talking to friends.

Mike's niece Suzy (Jamee's sister, Mikey's aunt) came from Texas.

Self portrait of me!!! I forgot to take off my reading glasses for the shot.

This is Steven, his wife Shawnee and their son Colin. Steven is Mike's sister Ginny's grandson. He is Mikey's cousin. They came from Las Vegas. They are moving to northern California later in the month. This is the first time we had met Steven's wife & baby. Steven, Mikey & Brandan (Mike's son) were always real close growing up. They weren't just cousins, they were friends.

This is Brianna. She is Mike's sister Dixie's grand daughter. Her dad is John (the one with the Shelby Cobra) who is Mike's nephew. Mikey was her cousin.

In this photo is Cory, Dixie, Suzy & Jen. Dixie is Mike's sister, mother to Jamee & grandmother to Mikey, Suzy is her daughter (Mike's niece). Jen is Dixie's grand daughter by John, sister to Brianna. And Cory is Jen's husband. Last we saw anyone in Mike's family was at Jen & Cory's wedding back in June. I posted about it here. There you will also find a better understanding of how everyone fits together in Mike's family.

Jen, Bev, John and Jesse. Jesse is Mike's son. John is Mike's nephew. Bev is married to John. And Jen is John & Bev's daughter.

Mike, Suzy and Victor. Victor is Mike's sister Ginny's son. Ginny wasn't able to come down from Oregon to attend the funeral. So Victor is Mike's nephew. Steven (who you met in an earlier photo) is Victor's nephew as well as Mikey who passed away. Are you getting all of this?

Brandan (Mike's son) and his wife Crystal (our DIL) with Gunner (our grandson).

John, Jesse, Steve, Shawnee and Colin. Can you remember how they are related to Mike? There will be a quiz at the end of this post. Just kidding.

Isn't Gunner a cutie pie? I wish we lived closer so that he knew us better.

I thought this was such a sweet photo of Gunner with his daddy (Brandan).

Jesse, Gunner & Brandan. Gunner was getting pretty sleepy by this time. He didn't take a nap all day.

And here is a group shot of Mike's family. Those that could come for the funeral less Victor & Brianna who had to leave before taking the photo. From left to right: Mike, me (Kim), Suzy, Bev, John, Karey, Jamee, Tommy Lynn (in front of Jamee), Mike, Brandan, Gunner, Steven, Crystal, Shawnee, Colin, Dixie and Jesse.

And if you are wondering who the heck Tommy Lynn is (the little girl in front). She is Jamee's step sister's daughter. So Jamee would be her Aunt & Mikey was her cousin. Divorces in families can cause family trees to get quite convoluted sometimes. All I know is, divorce doesn't matter sometimes in families. Families are families whether you are family by birth, marriage, divorce, remarriage or what. In my book, once you are family, you are always family.

It was good to see most of Mike's family. Even if it was for a sad occasion. And I'm sure I spelled names wrong for some in his family. If I did, I apologize. At least I remembered the names.

I'm glad to know that we will see Mikey again someday. I hope his family can take some comfort in that.

Kim