Cheers Uncle Pat:)

Today I woke up with a screaming pain in my ear that kept me almost crying in my pillow until 9:00… yes, I was once again late for work. This afternoon I got a call from my mother that my oldest uncle had passed away. That news made my pain seem pretty trivial. Uncle Pat was almost 90. He had good times and bad; hard times and easy; and lived primarily what most people would consider a rewarding life doing things on his terms… he lived the way he wanted to, period. When time came for him to check-out, he sat back in his chair, closed his eyes and went to sleep.

Getting the news at first shocked me, he wasn’t sick; then it made me sad, I hadn’t seen him in quite awhile; then a smile came to my face when Mom told me how he died. He lived the way he wanted and he died the way he wanted, most of us can only hope for that.

When I was six years old, my Grandfather (Uncle Pat’s father) passed away exactly the same way. As a young boy I often heard my father and my uncle’s say that was the way they all wanted to go… no suffering, just close your eyes and go to sleep. I am not sure what way I want to check-out, there is something to be said about having an approximate date, it gives you time to do the things that you want to clue up. I guess if you spend your life taking care of that stuff as you go, just going to sleep is a pretty attractive deal.

Even at 90, sudden death is hard on the remaining family, and in a long line of pre-mature funerals, in a huge family, Uncle Pat’s will be no exception in that regard. The difference is that once the shock has worn off, people will smile when they think of the twinkle in his eye. The sadness will heal a lot faster when you know someone did things on their own terms.

As you can imagine, in the past several months, death has been one of the things that has occupied some of my grey matter. As far as I know, I am only half way there… but ultimately, one never knows what is on the end of your next nap, or walk, or car ride, or trip to the doctor. Living and appreciating life is the way I roll now, I take nothing for granted and I try to treat every day like it might be my last.

One time when I was 11 or 12, there was an incident in Merasheen that probably would have been my last if Uncle Pat hadn’t been as strong and fast as he was. I was dumping garbage over the cliff with my cousin Gary. (Yes, this was before we all realized how bad it was to dump garbage in the ocean.) Anyway, all the stuff was in this huge iron wheelbarrow, at least huge for me at the time. When we tipped it over to get everything out, it all didn’t go down the 30 foot drop to the icy cold water below, so Gary let go of his side of the handle and got on his hands and knees in front of it to brush it all off the edge of the cliff. I was a kid, and the two of us together could barely handle this rig, much less me alone. Fortunately for Gary, and probably for me, this all happened in front of Uncle Pat’s cabin and when he saw what was happening, he came bolting down the hill to grab the wheelbarrow and more than likely saved the two of us from a drop to the beach. We got told off pretty good that day. I haven’t thought about that day in years… it’s funny how sudden news about a person can jolt memories from your subconscious.

Now my waiting to hear when I go to Winnipeg has taken a backseat to more important matters. When I was first looking at being shipped up to the mainland for my blast, it would have been around now if all had gone according to plan. People say that everything happens for a reason and if I didn’t believe it before today, I certainly believe it now. Now I will be here instead of Winnipeg this week. Now I will be there to be supportive to my family who have all been so supportive to me. Now I will be able to say good-bye to my uncle, my friend, my one time guardian… and now I will have one more angel watching over me when I get shot up with radiation.

Cheers Uncle Pat.

From Achmed and Me… Live Life!