Good Bye, Uncle Bill

Yesterday was a really hard day. Last Saturday I got a call from my mom saying that my Uncle Bill had passed away. It was very unexpected as he was in great health and only 66, but he died in his sleep and my aunt was unable to revive him. He was my father's older brother by 11 years and had 2 kids and 4 grandkids that will miss him terribly. The funeral was yesterday and the church was full of all the people he had touched over the years.

Uncle Bill was my closest uncle on my Dad's side of the family, since he was also my godfather. I was baptized in the catholic faith, but was raised methodist and that never bothered Uncle Bill one bit. He still took his "job" very seriously and liked to spoil me rotten. I looked forward to his presents the most on birthdays and Christmas because he always managed to know exactly what I wanted, even if I didn't.

Because of family tensions (a really LOOOOONG story that I don't even know completely) we never had much communication with my Dad's brothers and sisters. I only knew Uncle Bill and my Aunt Carol out of the 7 siblings. Uncle Bill has two daughters, neither of which I ever spent much time with. They were older by a few years and I am really sorry that I haven't gotten to know them. Now they both live on opposite ends of the country and I have a feeling I won't ever get much of a chance to develop a relationship.

I think the hardest part of the funeral was putting myself in everyone else's shoes. I have a bad habit of empathizing too deeply with people and I then over react to the situation. Even now I am sitting here with tears running down my face because I just can't help but feel bad for the children who no longer have a grandfather and his wife who no longer has her husband.

Caleb was having a really hard time understanding why we were there and what was going on. Definitely some really big concepts for a 3 YO to handle. He kept asking who the man was and why he was laying there. The only thing I could tell him was that Uncle Bill was sleeping and that Bumpa had to say goodbye to him. He then asked all the way home when we could play with Uncle Bill and why Bumpa was so sad....pretty profound for a boy who had never met his great uncle, and now he never will.