Good-bye for now, Morgan

Morgan, my brother's girlfriend of 11 years, was diagnosed with stage 4 pancreatic cancer five months ago. In spite of the grim outlook, Nate and Morgan decided to focus exclusively on getting well, so when she passed away, it came as a shock.

Briner Family Reunion, July of 2012

I flew down to L.A. with Megan, Jen, and Mom

 for the traditional Catholic funeral.

Our cousin Jenn and Scotty met us there

Pictured: Mom and her baby brother, my Uncle George McMillan, Jenn's dad. 

Jenn and I talked about these two, and I was struck with how similar their approach to parenting and grandparenting has been. They both want to be close to their children and grandchildren, but they leave it largely to us, their children, to foster those relationships. They were raised by "Old World" Scottish parents who believed something along the lines of "children should be seen and not heard." Whereas, the current generation of parents seems to focus on serving our children and taking on the responsibility for cultivating positive relationships with them. The differences in our approaches don't bother me, but I know it causes problems in other of our family relationships. 

I can't believe how alike these two look👆

This is the first time I've seen Nate with gray hair. 

The ceremony was something I've never experienced before. It was very formal. There were 2 friends that did a great job speaking in tribute to Morgan for about 10 minutes each, but the rest of the hour and a half was ceremonial in nature.

From there, we followed Morgan's casket into the mausoleum where another ceremony was performed.

Lunch was catered by the two top-rated 

L.A. restaurants Morgan had cheffed for.

Jen and Scotty have always looked like twins

Nate talked about how among the top stressors in life: one, is death of a loved one; two, is moving; three, is financial crisis; four, is starting a new job, and that he is facing all of them at once.  

Cousin Jenn [far right] is standing in for Brittany, who had been traveling with her kids and didn't make it.

Nate with Morgan's younger brother

I'm so glad we were brought together, even in these sad circumstances. It had been too long since we had last seen each other. I miss my family.