Monday, August 20, 2012
My dad's brother lost both of his children at the same time in a tragic accident when they were about the ages of my girls. He and his wife never really got past that. The sorrow haunted them for the rest of their life together, and perhaps that explains why they were never all that close to our family when we were growing up.
Last year, my aunt succumbed to cancer. She struggled against it a long while, but finally couldn't make it anymore. Now, my uncle is all alone. My dad is pretty much his only living relative. He's had a terrible time with the grief and loss, and he's taken to writing emails tinged with sadness to my dad as they become closer again.
That stuff Garrison Keillor said earlier, about being lonesome, that describes my uncle exactly.
So my gift of the day was a nice card written out to Uncle J. I scrawled some of our latest news and stamped and addressed it, all ready to go into the mail. I'm going to have the girls add a little note or some drawings for him. He's really been reaching out lately, trying to reestablish a family connection. I put aside a bit of my busy day to show him that we care.
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