Our dear Unk...

I met Uncle Ray (or “Unk” as the family called him) in 1984 when Mark and I started dating. Unk was my mother-in-law’s big brother. Unk never married… he became a care giver. His dad died at a very young age and Unk took over as the man of the house. Both to take care of his mom and his baby sister.

Unk was the fun uncle and as his nephews got older he became the “cool” uncle. He went on every family vacation and came to dinner twice a week, every week. When the boys needed something… Unk was there for them. When Unk bought a condo in Ocean City, he took the boys almost every weekend and for several weeks in the summer.

The family wasn’t complete without Unk. Over the past 15 years, Unk helped us get through the passing of both his little sister and Mark’s dad.

We lost our dear Unk this past February. So why am I writing about this today? I spent yesterday morning at Unk’s house waiting for the Salvation Army to arrive. Unk’s house has been sold and all the leftover furniture is being donated.

As I sat there I thought about how “stuff” doesn’t much matter. Unk was incredibly frugal and all his furnishings are from the 70’s. My niece has it right, being in his house is kind of like being in an episode of the Golden Girls!! But…Unk had the right idea… there is no need to spend money to buy something new unless the old one has worn out.

“Stuff” doesn’t much matter in the long run does it? Stuff can’t keep you happy, stuff can’t cure cancer, stuff can’t fix a broken heart…

I wanted to give Uncle Ray a shout out on my blog. I luv you Unk, we all luv you and you are sooooooo missed. You were an incredible role model to your nephews and your grand-nephew Matthew Raymond. You’ve taught us so much and we will miss you everyday.