In Loving Memory

My mom called me today to tell me that my uncle passed away suddenly. For any of you who knew him, you will feel my loss. For any of you who did not know him, you'll be saddened that you didn't because he was someone worth knowing.

He was a generous person with both his time and talents which he bestowed unselfishly on me in so many ways. My mind is racing with memories and I'm finding it hard to fall asleep. Here are the things that I remember about my Uncle Jim and what made him so special to me...

• He called me Mare-Bear.
• Every year when I was a kid, we'd go to East Troy for the 4th of July parade to watch him march with the band he directed.
• Every Thanksgiving he and my aunt made the most delicious pumpkin and pecan pies.
• It was a running joke between he and I as to who would find the best spot for a Thanksgiving Day nap.
• At the end of every Thanksgiving dinner he would say, "It was good what there was of it."
• When I bought my first house, he and my aunt spent hours and hours helping me clean, strip woodwork, paint, and garden.
• He made my cousin help him re-do my bathroom.
• He had a talent for woodwork and made me a custom "ladder" to hold my decorative papers and a little display shelf.
  
• He taught my husband and I how to make dill pickles.
• He did a reading at my wedding.
• For a wedding gift, he and my aunt gave us one gift each month for the first year we were married.
• Many of those gifts were delivered to me at work by my uncle when I didn't even remember it was my monthly anniversary until he arrived.
• One of the gifts was a grapefruit knife that I use almost every day.
• He made the best dill bread.
• When I had my son, he and my aunt brought us dinner...pork chops and German potato salad.
• I have these, and many of his other recipes in my recipe box.
• He took loving care each year to make his own Christmas cards.
• When we'd go to the cemetery in Kenosha, he and my aunt would bring the Spot burgers.
  
• When he was in town last summer he and my aunt stopped by our house to trim our bushes.
• He had a great laugh and loved to use it.

His passing is truly a loss. I miss him incredibly already.