Tomorrow

Tomorrow is the anniversary of Uncle Linus's death. His death has been incredibly rough on me. I didn't get to see Uncle Linus all that often. I probably saw him every year or two when we not only managed to make it back to the Midwest but also made it to Elma to see Dad's side of the family. It's not like I talked with him every day or called him just to chat but I've missed him every single day since he has been gone.

I think a lot of it was the suddenness of his death. He died in a car accident under unexplainable circumstances. Was it icy? Did he have a heart attack? Did a deer run out in front of him? No one knows and no one ever will. He was going about his business like he would any other morning and had plans to go to the Veterans' Day breakfast at the VFW. He never made it there. Gone. Just gone. No explanation. No time to say good-bye. Nothing.

About 7 weeks before Linus died my Grandma passed away. That was the last time I got to see Uncle Linus. Despite the sad circumstances of Grandma's death it was nice to see all of my cousins (there are 25 of us) and all of my aunts and uncles (all 7 of them plus my Dad). After Grandma's funeral my Dad and his siblings were sitting at a table in the garage going through all the condolence cards that had been left at the church. With that many people working on it they certainly didn't need my help but I sat down at the table anyway and happened to sit across from Linus. He and I worked together and had a nice little chat. Afterwards he was laughing because I recorded the Elma siren (which goes off every day at 7 a.m., 12 noon, and 6 p.m.) on my Palm Treo and set it as my ring tone. The Elma siren is something I always associate with going to visit Grandma so at the time it seemed very appropriate despite the fact that having a fire siren for a ring tone isn't terribly practical. Uncle Linus loved it. He called my phone multiple times and would crack up every time it rang. As others came out of the house he would have me show them what I did.

And that was the last time I saw him alive. Before that I don't know how long it had been since I had seen him. As much as I miss Grandma Lentz her passing was such a blessing for me - and I suspect many of my cousins as well - because we got to spend one last visit with Uncle Linus. At Grandma's wake he gave me a huge hug and held me tight. That's what I remember. That hug and that project with the condolence cards and that silly ring tone. And I am so grateful for all of that because that time was so special and I will take that with me always.

I miss you Uncle Linus.