I witnessed the most beautiful thing today

Wesley is gone.

Everyone who knew him is grieving.

All of the family finally arrived today. There are also people here in his life who are not biologically related, but are very close to him.

And there was no will.

Yeah, you can read between the lines. Thankfully, we were able to have the deputy sheriff swing by before everyone arrived. I smiled at him and said, "I know you do this kind of thing all the time. I know people are hurting. I'm going to let you do your job. Good luck."

I got the heck out of dodge while one person screamed their grief for quite awhile (side note: should have taken some video of that scene for the RV park web site - what a business draw THAT would have been!).

After a while, I notice the sheriff left, but every other person was. still. down. there. I walk that direction and heard something very strange. No yelling. In fact, I heard extremely calm conversation.

I arrived at Wes' trailer to find biological family and sharing-life family having a very polite conversation over where the trailer would go. They all agreed that Wes would not want them arguing over it all. "What would he want us to do?" That, after airing their fear and pain and concern, became the most important thing to everyone there. EVERY PERSON LAID ASIDE THOSE MASSIVE EMOTIONS AND FEELINGS AND FOUND A WAY TO UNITE AND MAKE DECISIONS.

Let me say that some of these people are never going to be hanging out together. They're not friends. Some of them have very little in common, except for Wes. And they put that aside. They spoke honestly, shared concerns but knew beyond a shadow of a doubt what Wes would have wanted (which focused on one young man who had been the closest person to him for these last several years).

They did it. That young man showed up, and only received words of love and encouragement. They all were fighting for him and his future and the horrible impact this has had on his heart.

It. was. beautiful.

The rest of the afternoon, while clearing things out, his brother cranked his truck stereo with all of Wes' favorite songs. Everyone laughed and cried ... a lot. There were stories after stories. He lived an insane and very unhealthy life until the last few years. It was comforting to hear how things played out over his lifetime.

Wes' trailer is gone. It is painful to see that empty site. The only thing our family has left from him is his old key for the park (on one of the old key rings with the old park name on it). We will be finding a very special place for it. He always wanted to be cremated, so he will find a resting place in Florida and Louisiana ... hopefully somewhere very near a gator.

Wesley Smith deserved every single bit of the tears and the passion and the effort and the reconciliation and the music and the laughter. He was worth it.

Crap. I want my friend back.