First and most importantly, my Uncle Phil Bell passed away last Friday. He battled cancer for three years. I'm so sad to see him go, but I'm so thankful he is not suffering anymore. He was and is an amazing man with an amazing family.
Phil's oldest child is Brent. Brent posted the following on facebook and I believe it about sums up everybody's feelings who knew him:
"My father, a small, gentle and unassuming man, just finished stoically enduring a three-year ordeal that would've crushed the spirits of giants, reduced lesser men to mewling infants. That we should all pass from this world with such strength and grace."
Wow. That is an amazing tribute and I completely agree with every word!
Phil's son Kris set up a website to honor the memories of Phil. Feel free to check it out, it's beautifully done!
1000 Memories
I'm looking forward to the funeral next week to hug my aunt and cousins and tell them how much I love them and how much I pray for their continued strength! As is usual in times of crisis, family bonds seem to become unbreakable. The Bell family has been through a lot this past month and the unity that is left behind is inspiring!
My other curveballs are quite strange. Now that I'm thinking about it, I probably should split this blog post into two separate entries: One for Uncle Phil and one for the other weirdness going on. However, Phil was probably my #1 blog fan and I honestly think he would have appreciated the following story. I seriously can hear his belly laugh right now!
So, without putting it off any longer.....I present to you, MY cat story.
My cousin Cody has a GREAT cat story....one that involves a dead cat, a heating pad, and a Victoria's Secret box. Not sure my cat story can live up to that one, but it's a close second!
For the past 1 1/2 weeks, I've been smelling something dreadful in my backyard. I keep my recycle bin just outside my back door and every time I recycle something I start gagging. Finally, last Thursday I couldn't take it any longer. The smell was so bad I couldn't open that dang door! Sam came home from work absolutely exhausted, he only had 4 hours of sleep the previous night and was looking forward to a quiet evening at home without a single thing on the agenda. I was just about to ask him to find the source of the smell, when the phone rang.
The phone was for Sam. There were some bishopric duties he needed to attend to in the near future. So, he put on his white shirt and tie and was getting ready to head out the door. At that same time Carson and his friend Amanda were at the house hanging out. Instead of bothering Sam, I said "Hey Carson, will you and Amanda go open the grill and see if a bird or something has died inside it?" Sam got all irritated with me and said "don't make them go look!" as he walked out in the backyard. It's important to note, we haven't used our grill at all this summer and the grill cover is still on it.
As I was watching through the sliding glass door, I saw Sam's look of horror as he pulled up on the grill cover. He looked at me and mouthed "it's bad". I opened the door a tiny crack, without breathing in the air, and said "what is it?". He said "Cat. Really big cat, covered in maggots". At that point I was out of air and had to slam the door shut but not before I caught wind of the stench. I started retching and gagging like an idiot! Now remember, Carson and Amanda are standing next to me. Amanda said "uh, is it a siamese cat with a pure black tail? We've been missing our cat for a month." Sam nodded in the affirmative.
At that point the realization that I almost made Amanda discover her own dead cat sunk in. I tried to apologize but I couldn't get the stink out of my nose. I gagged all the way to the street in front of my house. Not sure what happened to the cat, but it wasn't IN the grill, just under the grill cover. I don't know if he couldn't find his way out, or if he was hiding because he was hurt/sick and hid there to die. However, the reason does not matter. I have a rotting carcass lying on my back patio at the exact moment Sam had to leave for a meeting!
Luckily, we have awesome neighbors who live behind us. They watched the horror scene unfold from their balcony. Nick the neighbor, said "Hey Sam, come get me when you get home and I can help you with that!". At that point I had to take Carson to scouts. I apologized (half-heartedly...I'm not a very compassionate person in situations like these) to Amanda and sent her home. By this time the stench has wafted around my house and to the neighboring houses. I couldn't get out of the area fast enough! I took Carson to scouts and then hung out at my friends house for about 30 minutes, basically wasting time since I didn't want to go home.
When I did get home, this is what I saw out my back window:
That pink bandana around Nick's face seriously made me larf out lard! Meanwhile, Sam was coughing and gagging the whole time they were putting the remains in garbage bags. Then the clean-up got serious. Tons of bleach was scrubbed onto the patio to get rid of the smell. It was putrid until the next day!
The worst part was the next day when Amanda's mom came over to talk about the loss of her cat. In all the misery I forgot to tell Amanda's mom! I don't know her too well so it was slightly awkward. She was emotional and wanted to understand how it all happened. In my head I was like "lady! I don't know HOW it happened, it just did and it was horrible!" but I put on my compassionate pants and tried to help her grieve....which is totally out of my character! ha ha! Phew.
Let's see...what else is happening...
Oh yeah, Shark week was fun! Cameron and I watched our fair share of the footage. He even has pj's he proudly wore!
Last week there was a free day you could ride TRAX on the new West Jordan TRAX line. All you had to do was bring food for a food drive. Cameron and I rode the train one morning. Cameron was in HEAVEN! Every time the train would stop to pick up passengers Cameron would YELL "All aboard!!". So funny!
Guess what? Yesterday was my 13th anniversary! I am so happy that Sam and I decided to get hitched! He is the best husband and father a girl could ask for! We celebrated on Saturday by going to Ruth's Diner (holy cow that place is soooo good!!!) and then we hung out in Park City. It's always nice to have some alone time with Sam (Thanks mom and dad!!). Yesterday, when Sam came home from work he brought Cafe Rio for dinner, long stemmed red roses, and the most amazing Raspberry/White Chocolate cheesecake from the Cheesecake Factory! See what I mean? He's the BEST!!! We devoured the cheesecake before remembering to take a picture. :)
6 comments:
I'm sorry I didn't get to meet your uncle Phil. He left comments on my blog that were very sweet.
Dead cat story...gross! ...but funny if it didn't happen to me! lol
When I got home from yw and saw you had a new blog post - I was SURE i knew what it was going to say. But I was wrong. I will wait.
You're right. Phil would have totally loved the cat story! And he did love your blog. Every time you had a new post he would check to make sure I had read it. I am totally looking forward to the hugs next week. Love ya.
That's funny. Reminds me of many of the cat stories we had growing up. Do you remember discovering a stiff dead cat in one of our sleeping bags about a month or two after we all slept out in the back yard? That was funny too.
I will no longer tease you with butterflies ( well maybe) -- cats may be my new theme!! Hehehe
Oh man, I laughed till there were tears! That is the BEST cat story! I can't wait to tell Neal. Poor little girl. But oh, so funny! I remember once when Sam and I found a dead cat in the neighbors back yard. Maggots were crawling out of the eye sockets. I will never forget that image. Gag!
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