quote: | Originally posted by Vivid Boy
What a year. I am watching my favorite uncle slowly pass away from lung cancer. an Uncle who was always there for me from day 1. My only uncle in Canada (the rest are back in Italy). I watch this man deteriorate daily and I can't help think back to childhood when he would tie my socks together in a knot and hang me by them by the doorknob. I used to crack up in laughter while I tried to wiggle free or how he'd tell me to highfive him and then get me into a mercy clutch and make me yell "YOURE MY FAVE UNCLE" until he'd let my crushed hand go or make me sip sambuca saying it was water just to see my face of disgust and tell me "itll put hair on your chest little man" (unfortunately it did, way too much). He used to do all of this and most people would think it was cruel but that was just how he showed he loved you. He's now frail as a little schoolgirl and so weak he looks almost like a walking zombie. It's hard to watch. I have 5 Uncles, all 4 of them came to visit him while hes been getting treated. Each Uncle very different from the next and the way they treat me. All show love in their own way. They all came one by one and I studied each one closely. I have never seen each one directly after another like that. I always see each one with an amount of time in between.
I think its funny and it could be totally by coincidence that it happened but when the last uncle left back to Italy, I became an Uncle myself. how odd is that.
I have never been more emotional in my life or happier. My brother and I are super close. we are split apart by 7 years which is a long time. He was always the rational straight arrow one and I was the little rascal one getting into trouble. He looked out for me. He walked me home from school as a toddler, when I was in grade 4 and we moved to a new neighborhood and i got beat up by a bunch of grade 9s on the street, he was the one who came out to fight for me. When the older kids i hung out with threw a pack of fireworks on fire back into the convenience store we purchased it from and I was too slow to keep up when we were running away he piggybacked me. When I was in my late teens and early 20s and I was wilding out he was the one who had his ears to the streets, heard what i was up to and slapped sense into me. He was the light in the tunnel when I had all sorts of bad influences around me.
I have a chance to repay all that debt back.
I've never been in this much love. I am so proud of my brother and sis in-law and I can't wait to be as good as of an uncle as the ones I've had.
Not to mention the joy he brings to my parents. My mom who is losing the only brother who stayed in Canada with her. They deserve this little guy more then anyone. I am blessed.
ps. everyone thinks he looks exactly like me |
Someone is chopping onions around here... Your post made me tear up.
I'm very happy for you, congrats again to you and your family. Cute little munchkin, and I do think he looks like you.
I'm very sorry to hear of your uncle's illness, must be extremely difficult for all of you. *hugs*, and I kind of relate. My cousin (who's like a brother to me) had a son right after our beloved grandma passed away this year, while we were (and still are) heartbroken that she's gone, we were filled with joy when the little bundle of joy arrived. Enjoy being an uncle, and I suspect you will spoil the crap out of him.
|