Barbara Van Bigelow

So yesterday was kind of a rough day. 

I dropped Reagan off at the airport and saw her off as she began her adventure in Russia. It was almost drama free - except for the Nazi ticket lady. But, other than that everything went off without a hitch.

I came back home and got to work on some things I needed to do around the house. 

About 30 minutes later I got a phone call from Jared's sister with some bad news.

However, Jared was in Texas checking on some jobs his company is working on.

So - it took me about 20 minutes to finally reach him and then I had to give him the news.....

that his mom has passed away sometime during the night.

My stomach hurt so bad. 

I hated that I had to say that over the phone and that he was so far away.

He was shocked to say the least. He immediately left the job site and drove to the airport and tried to get a flight home. Luckily he was able to get one and he was home by 6:30.

Then we had to tell the boys.

It was just emotionally exhausting.

It was a surprise to all of us. Bobbie was 72 years old and she had a few health issues - but she had been doing so well lately. We just didn't expect this and that was the hardest part of it all.

That punch to the gut that makes you just say, huh?

Thankfully we have great family and friends who immediately showed their support.

I am grateful to all of them.

I keep trying to think of how I want to describe Bobbie. When I first started dating Jared I was a little worried because he's the only boy and he's one of the younger kids. I thought....."Here we go.....I'm going to fight with my mother-in-law constantly because I'm not good enough for her son." But I couldn't have been more wrong.

Bobbie was kind to me from the very beginning. She made sure that she and I were good friends and she never got in the middle and Jared & my marriage. She gave me lots of good advice and loved to just talk with me forever.

For a while, they had a house in our neighborhood here in Chandler. It was so fun to have her and Clarence so close. The boys especially loved it.

We are lucky. We had Bobbie live with us for a while and so our boys are very close to her. She went on several vacations with us and we always had a ball.

Bobbie loved to talk. We used to tease her about how much she liked to talk. She also had a lot of facts that she was always willing to share with us. She was silly and goofy and didn't mind laughing at herself. She was a good mom, a good mother-in-law and a great grandmother. She had sleepover parties with the boys and they loved it because they got to stay up late and watch movies and eat popcorn and junk food. She also had a major sweet tooth and she and the boys could often be found at different food places trying out the cheesecake or any other dessert they felt like.

I could go on and on about how awesome she was. I think one of the things I liked best about her is how real she was. I also enjoyed her cooking! Oh man, was she a great cook.

We will miss her.

But as we all know - we will see her again. She is now reunited with her parents and her husband. She is able to check on all of us and hopefully find ways to make us laugh from heaven.

We love you Bobbie.

Doesn't Nathan look just like Jared? So cute!