Received an email from my Dad that his brother (my Uncle) passed away on Saturday. That makes me feel sad, and rather nostalgic about my childhood. During the summer we would get the unexpected news that we'd been invited to dinner at Uncle Richard and Aunt Irene's house. That was our kid summer-break Christmas because they had an in-ground swimming pool and two cousins kind of near my age that I could play with. Lisa was a little older, and did sophisticated things like compete in figure skating and horse shows. She'd show me some of the ribbons she had won and I was so impressed and proud to be her cousin. Ricky was more the remote control car and hotwheels type, so naturally I gravitated towards he andy brother, who both summarily shut me out due to my gender. I remember Ricky showing me his box of magic tricks once. That was always cool.
I think I was about 8 or 9 when the mysterious "Great Divide" of our extended family occurred. To this day, over 30 years later, I still have no idea what happened. Our Gran died, and all of a sudden our whole outer family disappeared except for Aunt Brenda. It's like the big family mystery, which used to intrigue me, but now I'm just frustrated because I have no idea what my family medical history looks like.
Thank you for making my childhood summers special, Uncle Richard. Godspeed.
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