The Bowen Family

I just wanted to take a minute to talk about Sean’s passing.  Sean was a good brother and he loved his family.  I realized at the funeral that I didn’t really know Sean all that well, which isn’t that surprising given that we never had a chance to hang out together.  I think that the total of our “hang time” was less than 6 hours.  Usually we were waiting at the airport, or grabbing a bite, or picking up something at the store.  I think that we both expected that there would be another 50+ years of family vacations and events to become closer.  We ran out of time, and I’m sorry for that.

The week before the funeral was difficult for me because I realize that as the family has moved away, the cousins, aunts, uncles, and grandparents are not spending as much time together.  We all have our own lives, and when we live 10 minutes away it is easy to get together for a BBQ or other event.  Now that we’re all spread out, it’s tough to maintain the relationships.  My closest sibling is about 45 minutes away, and the furthest is something like 20 hours by airplane.  I have an aunt in Alaska, that I really liked as a kid – still do.  I haven’t seen her in about 12 years, and that was for just an hour or so as she passed through Utah.  Things are such that I doubt that I will ever get to know her as an adult.  With Kerry out of the country, I’m a little bit afraid that the same thing will happen between my children, her and Ben.
I think this experience has forced me to look differently at family gatherings.  I’ve always felt that getting together is important…  I just feel stronger about it now.  Thank you Sean for helping me in an unconventional way.  I speak for all of us when I say that you will be missed.

-Peter