Pass it on...

April 7th will be the one year anniversary of my Uncle Nate's death.  It was an accident.  He just retired as a welder two months earlier from General Motors and he & my aunt had gone down to Tenessee to see his brother Kirk & his family.  On April 6th, while my uncle and Kirk were out running some errands, an old guy & his wife ran a red light and plowed into the side of the car.  It basically crushed my uncles entire body from the hips down.  He died at the hospital the next day, after the family was able to get down there to see him and be with my aunt.  Kirk's still going through rehab.

He was, as much as anyone could be, a second dad.  He and my aunt and cousins lived right next door growing up.  I've never experienced anything like this.  Loss, of course.  But nothing so...  Impossible.  Our family will never be the same.  Never be whole again.

But we've decided that instead of getting together and mourning his loss, we'll be going out and passing something good on in his memory.  He's the kind of guy who'd give his last dollar to a bum asking for help feeding his kids in front of a liquor store and happily doing it fully believing that the bum would do the right thing.  He'd help absolutely anyone who asked nor matter what the cost to him.  While he worked in the shop, he had his own coffee stand that he operated for the other workers on line.  And I can't tell you the number of mornings while vacationing together in Tawas, MI, that we kids would get woken up by the raucus gurgling and bubbling of the coffee maker as Uncle Nate made everyone coffee...

So on Monday, April 7th, I'll be taking coffee into work for everyone in my office and keep the pots brewing all day.  It's the least I can do.  Because I miss my Uncle Nate.

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