Uncle Glenn
I found out a couple of months ago that my Uncle Glenn, my mom's only brother, had liver cancer, and had apparently been ill for some time before letting anyone in the family know. When I first learned this news, I wasn't told any specific details about how sick he was or what his prognosis was. I found out yesterday that he is probably going to die within the month. My cousin says that he looks like a Holocaust victim and is confined to a wheelchair.
My family was spread far and wide when I was growing up, so I never got to see my aunts and uncles very often. Glenn and his family lived in San Jose, California while we were in Hong Kong, then Illinois, then Canada, and then Texas. They came to visit us once when I was too young to remember it, and the next time I saw Glenn was when we went to visit him in California when I was nine years old. That trip has always stuck out in my memory as one of my favorite summer vacations ever. I particulary remember three things about it: Aunt Marge's homemade hot cocoa mix, the earthquake which sent me tumbling down the stairs one morning, and Glenn's valiant efforts to help me get over my fear of water and teach me to swim. I thought he was just the coolest uncle ever.
Aunt Marge died of breast cancer when I was a high school sophomore, and even though geographical circumstances had not afforded me the chance to get to know her well, I was still crushed. Just that one summer trip to visit them in San Jose had given me such fond memories of both Glenn and Marge. The following summer, there was a big family reunion at Mammoth Cave, Kentucky, which Glenn helped to organize and orchestrate. That trip is another one that sticks in my memory as one of my favorite family vacations of all time. I visited Glenn again the summer after I graduated from high school, when I was 17 years old. From that trip, I remember going to watch my cousin Jeff's baseball game one afternoon, and going out to play miniature golf one evening. A year or two later, there was another family reunion at Cripple Creek, Colorado -- another fond vacation memory, and the first time I got to meet Glenn's new wife, Lee, a wonderful woman who has been so good for Glenn.
Glenn and Lee moved to the Dallas area at some point while I was in college, so I did get to see more of them after that, typically on special occasions like Thanksgiving, family weddings, baptisms, or funerals, etc. Glenn was always larger than life -- a big, strapping man with a booming voice, always laughing and joking. It is so difficult for me to imagine him in the state he's in now. Every time I think about it, I burst into tears. I wish I'd gotten to spend more time with him over the years, but I will always treasure the memories of the times we did spend together. He is going to be dearly missed.
My family was spread far and wide when I was growing up, so I never got to see my aunts and uncles very often. Glenn and his family lived in San Jose, California while we were in Hong Kong, then Illinois, then Canada, and then Texas. They came to visit us once when I was too young to remember it, and the next time I saw Glenn was when we went to visit him in California when I was nine years old. That trip has always stuck out in my memory as one of my favorite summer vacations ever. I particulary remember three things about it: Aunt Marge's homemade hot cocoa mix, the earthquake which sent me tumbling down the stairs one morning, and Glenn's valiant efforts to help me get over my fear of water and teach me to swim. I thought he was just the coolest uncle ever.
Aunt Marge died of breast cancer when I was a high school sophomore, and even though geographical circumstances had not afforded me the chance to get to know her well, I was still crushed. Just that one summer trip to visit them in San Jose had given me such fond memories of both Glenn and Marge. The following summer, there was a big family reunion at Mammoth Cave, Kentucky, which Glenn helped to organize and orchestrate. That trip is another one that sticks in my memory as one of my favorite family vacations of all time. I visited Glenn again the summer after I graduated from high school, when I was 17 years old. From that trip, I remember going to watch my cousin Jeff's baseball game one afternoon, and going out to play miniature golf one evening. A year or two later, there was another family reunion at Cripple Creek, Colorado -- another fond vacation memory, and the first time I got to meet Glenn's new wife, Lee, a wonderful woman who has been so good for Glenn.
Glenn and Lee moved to the Dallas area at some point while I was in college, so I did get to see more of them after that, typically on special occasions like Thanksgiving, family weddings, baptisms, or funerals, etc. Glenn was always larger than life -- a big, strapping man with a booming voice, always laughing and joking. It is so difficult for me to imagine him in the state he's in now. Every time I think about it, I burst into tears. I wish I'd gotten to spend more time with him over the years, but I will always treasure the memories of the times we did spend together. He is going to be dearly missed.
posted by Catherine at 1:18 PM
2 Comments:
my heart goes out to you ...
though, it is wonderful that you have the memories you do ... some people only come into our lives for a short time, yet they leave the best, most loved memories ...
Thank you, Saija! Sorry I didn't respond sooner. I had trouble even looking at this post this week after I posted it. I would start to respond to you and then just burst into tears and have to sneak down the hall and hide out in the ladies' room til I could compose myself. It's strange that I'm having such a strong reaction to this -- I mean, I love my uncle, but like I said, we were never super close because we lived so far apart for so long.
I had dinner with my mom tonight and she told me that ever since Glenn told her he had cancer, every time they spoke on the phone he'd tell her he was doing great, the treatment was working well, he was fine, etc. He's always been that way -- never able to admit something is wrong. So it wasn't til my cousin went to visit him that the rest of us realized how close to death he is. My parents are going to drive up to Forth Worth to visit him tomorrow and Monday.
I don't know if I'll even be able to visit him before he dies, what with all of the surgeries for my dog and myself that are scheduled for this coming month. I'm going to try, but I'm also going to send him a nice, long letter this week, reminiscing about all of the times I've spent with him over the years and what he's meant to me. I think it's a tragedy that we often don't get the chance to tell people what they mean to us before it's too late. My brother died so suddenly six years ago that I never got the chance to do that with him, so I just had to be comforted by the fact that he already knew how much I loved him and how much he meant to me, so there was nothing left unsaid between us.
Anyway, thank you for your kind words! I really appreciate them and you. :)
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