"The best-laid plans..."

I have been suprised at how much a sense of loss President Hinckley's passing has brought to me. My heartaches that he is gone. I really wanted my kids to experience his passing...just as I did when I went to President Kimball's viewing. We tried, we really tried and boy, are we disappointed. We planned on going yesterday. The kids were dressed, but I couldn't find anyone to take carpool so we bumped our plans to today. Apparently the rest of Utah did the same. There were 3 lines going into the Conference Center. Naturally, we picked the longest, slowest one. After waiting in line for 1 1/2hrs the kids had had it (well, mostly Chad). Our toes were frozen and we were told we still had another 1 1/2hrs in line. After making friends with everyone in line around us, we decided to throw in the towel. Josh cried as we walked away(and Andrew is crying as I'm typing this). I assured him that President Hinckley knew we loved him and appreciated our efforts. I think it made the kids feel a little better to give the homeless man playing the accordian some money. ;) And would you believe our adventure didn't end there? We got on the wrong Trax train on the way home...headed to the UofU instead of Sandy. We had to back track our way downtown. As we were waiting at one of the stops, a man saw fit to pull out his girly magazine and shamlessly look at it...not hiding anything. Yes, he really did. The conclusion I came to was that while it would have been neat to go through the viewing, we can show our love appreciation for him just as well from the comfort of our own home.

ETA:

We just got done watching the funeral and we just wept. Josh was sobbing and was so upset he didn't want to go play in his basketball game. I was overcome with emotion as I saw his empty chair and watched him leave the Conference Center for the last time. The video tribute with chior singing at the end was just stunning. What an honor to be witness to his time as prophet. My eyes are red and my head hurts, but my heart is full of love and gratitude for him and the way he lived his life and led the church.