Death is an Interesting Thing....

Death is an interesting thing.Sometimes it takes death to put things into perspective, to make you truly think about how important family is. Tuesday night my Uncle, my Mom's oldest brother, was found face down in his home. An hour or so later his heart stopped at the hospital and he was unable to be  revived. My mom cried. Hard. I haven't heard her cry that hard since her Dad died over a decade ago. Her brother had died and she felt guilty for going so long without talking to him. They talked for the first and last time, last week over a long absence of communication. As my sister and I held her tight while she sobbed she said to me and my sister, "Never leave each other. Always remain together and apart of each others lives."

I have only seen my Uncle Rupert a handful of times, and those handful of times I barely remember. I am upset that I am not close to my family. I makes me sad to think Uncle Rupert probably had a faded memory of me too. I feel pain for my mom who lost her brother. I shed a tear for my Grandmother who had to loose a  husband and now a son to sudden death. But through this morbid situation I have come to realize how important it is to be close to family. I need to always remain tight with my sister, although we have our ups and downs. I need to always remain best friends with my parents because they won't be around forever (just thinking about that brings tears to my eyes). I need to start a journey to get to know my massive extended family (half of which I have never even met). Because of this tragic loss of my Uncle I was able to learn an invaluable lesson and I now see the importance of family, nuclear and extended.

Thank you Uncle Rupert for sharing one last lesson with me.
I'll see you on the other side one day.