Goodbye

We've always had a rather small family. It started out as just my parents and me, my aunt, uncle, and their two kids, my grandparents, and my great-grandparents. That made 11 of us total. Over the years, my great-grandparents died, and we were at 9 for most of my life.

We spent many family vacations together. I don't remember all of them, but I do remember the Grand Canyon when I was about 4, Mount Rushmore a few years later, and a trip to New Mexico complete with tons of bears in the campground when I was a young teen.

Then, Mitch came and the family started growing again. My dad and my uncle were SO excited when Mitch joined the family. That meant that they had a new guy to hang out with on Christmas Even and Thanksgiving while the girls were in the kitchen or playing Phase 10.

I think Uncle Steve was a little set aback when he learned that Mitch wasn't a football fan, but he got over it, and loved having another guy around.

This was taken during our rehearsal dinner in '07 at Corino's.

When we thought Grandpa might not make it to another Christmas, we took family pictures on Christmas of '08. It was a good time to get recent, updated immediate family pictures too.

I gave my grandparents, dad, and uncle a book that had photos from when my grandparents were dating until the present day, in order and edited. This was one of the biggest smiles I've seen from my uncle.

On Friday, August 20th, I called my mom as I do many afternoons on my way home from work. I asked what their plans were for the night, and they said that they were on their way out to dinner with my aunt and uncle. As a side note, my aunt's mom lives in Arlington too and is dying, so my aunt is in town at least 2 weekends a month. My uncle decided to come along for the ride this time. Both of my cousins showed up too.

I asked my mom to bring them by on the way home from dinner so that they could meet Witten. When they got here, my aunt of course wanted to hold him, and my mom snapped three pictures of Witten with my aunt and uncle.

My dad and uncle's cousin happened to be in town for a change (he works out of town a lot), and came over for a 3 hour visit. This never happens, so it was great that they all got together. Then on Saturday, my dad and uncle went to pick up the trailer from the shop and got stuck in a traffic jam for an hour and a half. They loved just hanging out in the car talking together.

They returned home to Lubbock on Sunday the 22nd, and on Wednesday, my mom called to tell me my uncle was in the hospital again. I wasn't too worried because this was the second time this year. I figured they'd fix him and send him home like last time. My dad was rushing to Lubbock though because he thought it was more serious. He drove around looking for the hospital, and got there about 5 minutes too late. My uncle died suddenly on Wednesday night.

He had an operable condition, but due to some other issues, he was on blood thinners and they were going to have to wait two weeks to operate. Unfortunately, he did have that long. I lost my best and only uncle. My heart is heavy and full of "I wish I had..."s. He knew I loved him, and I know he was proud of me. I don't remember for sure that we said it every time we were together, but he told me enough.

Here is the last picture ever taken of my uncle. I don't think it was just by chance that he came the weekend before he died and saw everyone one last time.