Uncle David, This is for you.

About a week ago, my uncle succumbed to cancer. He passed away in his home on Jan 5th. I have had a hard time with this. He was a good man. When he discovered that he had cancer last year, he was told he had about 3 months to live. He did not want to die. He felt he was needed for his kids. You see he has three boys. Two of them have Fragile X. They don't even understand what has happened. At his funeral, they kept asking "where is dad?" and "Why are they putting him in the ground?" That, more than anything, broke my heart. I understand that he needed to pass away. He was in so much pain, But those boys don't. His other boy, the one without Fragile X, His birthday was Jan. 6th. His only comment was "this isn't exactly what I wanted my birthday to be like." He turned 12.

I am going to take this time to share some stories of my uncle. He was such a fun guy to be around. He would do anything for anyone. Like my mom. When my parents where going through their divorce, he helped my mother out financially, even though it was hard for him. He also showed her emotional support by coming to some of the court preceding, even though he lived in another state. Whenever he was coming into this state, he would go out of his way to stop by and see how thing were going.

Once when I was at my mom's when he stopped by we had this conversation. I will always remember it just because it was really funny at the time. You see I had just discovered I was pregnant with my third child, and my second was just barely a year. When David asked me when I was due, my reply was I don't know. He then proceeded to tell me that it's easy to discover your due date, you just recall when you "did the deed" and count forward nine months. So he asked again when I was due, and again I said I didn't know. He asked how that could be, and just kept teasing me. My poor husband was so embarrassed during this conversation, and I was just ready for it to end, even at the expense of embarrassing my husband further so I said: "Look, I am very grateful that I have sex frequently enough that I do not know when I conceived." At which point my uncle snorted his drink out his nose as he was laughing so hard, and my husband left the room.

That was the last time I spent any real time with my uncle. I did manage to see him a few more times, and I talked to him a bit, but I didn't get to spend much more time with him. That is my biggest regret. I did not get to see him before he passed away. But I will always remember his love for others, his humor, and the fact that once I was able to beat him in a verbal spar. I love you Uncle David. I miss you.