Funeral Talk Excerpts by Uncle Glenn

Funeral Talk Excerpts by Uncle Glenn (Bwren) ---

"And Joshua proceeded to high five every girl on the opposing team's bench."

I've never cried during that Barney song before.

For those of you who don't know me, I'm just Joshua's Uncle Glenn, or as he would say in his own language, “Bwren.”  We think that's spelled B W R E N.  We're going to have to ask him later.

Although our lives were sometimes more complicated, to Joshua Boy, life was very simple:  family & friends, Barney, family & friends, Wheel of Fortune, family & friends.

Although we are saddened at his passing, remembering the good times will help us to heal with a smile on our faces.  This afternoon I am wearing my blue shirt and my basketball tie in honor of Joshua because he loved to come to my games at Pleasant Grove High School.  There are two games in particular which I remember with a smile on my face.

You've heard in many of, Julie mentioned it, Mike mentioned it, I think Selma mentioned it, I think everybody's talked about how Joshua loved to give high fives.  Well, in the middle of a game, Selma was late bringing Joshua.  I was standing up – I can't sit down during a game.  And I look over at the entrance, and I see Selma and Joshua walk in.  And Joshua proceeded to high five every girl on the opposing team's bench.

During another game, I don't know, maybe it was the same one – you've heard how Joshua liked to throw things.  I was standing up again, because I can't sit down during a game and I see something fly over my head onto the floor.  And my first reaction is, Selma said the look on my face was sheer horror, I thought some fan was upset with an official's call and threw something on the floor.  I looked at it, and it was a tape, a video tape.  I just went out, picked it up, handed it to Selma and the game never stopped.

As I mentioned, I teach at Pleasant Grove High School, and for five years Joshua attended Pleasant Grove High School and I loved seeing him and giving him high fives in the hallway or lunchroom, wherever.  It was always fun to watch the reaction on a girl's face when he tried to hug them.  Some girls knew that Joshua was special, and it took others a little longer to figure it out.  But it was always fun to watch the girl's reaction when Joshua, put out his arms.  Well, one day an office worker came into the classroom, and usually that means they want a student.  Well, this time they wanted the teacher.  They said, "we can't get Joshua off the bus, and we're going to watch your class so you can go do it."  Mark, will you come up here (visual demonstration).

I don't remember the year we started doing this, but we had a game we played with Joshua and maybe it's because that we figured out that if we threw imaginary things, less stuff would get broken.  But we played this game with him, and we'd say, "Joshua, throw a pillow at me."  And he would take both hands, and just put it back on his shoulder and he would throw it (Glenn threw the pillow and Mark fell down) and we would act like we got hit.  And he would just laugh, and then he would say, "again."  So I got on the bus.  He was just sitting in the aisle, wouldn't get up.  And I said "Joshua, throw a pillow at me."  So he got up, threw a pillow at me, I fell down, and he walked off the bus.  I don't know if that's what he wanted, but that's what he got.  That was not the only time that they came and watched my class so I could come and get Joshua to do something.

I don't know if any of you noticed, out in this foyer, there's a Rubbermaid container with a bunch of dirty, broken toys, and another container holding a bunch of dirty, broken toys.  And in the rubber maid container, the front has been cut out.  Let me explain that.  We have a playhouse in our backyard, and there's a slide.  And Joshua would come over and he'd throw all the toys down the slide, and it fascinated him, I don't know why.  Well, simple mind.  It fascinated him and he would just throw them over and over again, but when he was done, they were all over the yard.  So I got a cardboard box to catch them.  Well, that didn't last very long, so I went to Wal-Mart, got a container, cut out the front, and it made it a lot easier to pick up his toys and give them back to him.  I think his record was like 4 hours straight once, just throwing those toys down the slide, into the Rubbermaid container until he got hungry or something. 

Well, as you've heard in some of the talks, Joshua wore a diaper, which meant that sometimes it was what Doug got, or was it Jeremy, what Jeremy got, and sometimes it was the other one, okay.  And if you changed him in the house you needed some pretty strong spray so that you could stay in the house.  Well, I learned that if I changed him in the playhouse it freshened up a lot quicker, because there was a lot more air outside than in the house.  So one day I was changing his diaper, and while I was changing his diaper, I noticed a wasp nest about 2 or 3 feet from his head, that had been being formed without our knowledge and I didn't see it until I was changing that diaper.  Well, the worst thing I could have done was look at it, because Joshua notices a lot of things you don't think he's going to notice, but I just kept looking at it, and right when I got his button buttoned, finishing the diaper change, Joshua grabbed that wasp nest – it had about 20 wasps on it at least – and he just held it and looked at it.  Of course my face was about a foot away from that wasp nest, and now the wasps are crawling all over his hand, and I freaked out, he didn't.  And I grabbed his hand and hit the wasp nest out, and now the wasps are flying all over the place.  So I grabbed him, I pushed him down the slide, and I followed him down that slide.  And when we got to the bottom, he said "ow."  And I thought, "oh, he got bit by a wasp."  And I checked him, and I checked him, and I couldn't find any bites.  And I didn't have any either.  So I e-mailed that story to our whole family.  And I think it was Vickie that said, "the wasps knew that he was no danger to them."  Somehow they knew.  Because I guarantee if I had picked up that wasp net, I would have had bites all over me. 

Last story I'm going to tell you.  On Sunday, 6 days ago, when Selma called me to help her get Joshua into the van, to take him to Orem Community Hospital, I walked in and he was just laying on the floor.  He didn't have very much energy.  I picked him up, and started walking toward the garage, and he pointed at the VCR, and he said "tape."  He had to have his Barney tape.  So we would put it in his bag and we took him to the hospital.

I'm just going to repeat what I said earlier.  Although our lives were sometimes more complicated, to Joshua Boy, life was very simple:  family & friends, Barney, family & friends, Wheel of Fortune, family & friends.

We Love You Joshua Boy!