Applejack
03-11-2010, 02:21 PM
Everyone has one. That relative who, when you were young, you thought would never die. "Uncle Fred will be fine! He's invincible!" Or whatever. Often it might've been your father. In my case it was my uncle Bill. My dad's brother. My dad has a large family, especially for white people standards. But my dad hates just about everyone in his family except for my two uncles: Bill and Neil. Niel lives in Colorado and owns his own dentistry. He's rad as fuck and once gave me 300 bucks out of the goddamn blue. One of Neil's kids, my nephew, might one day be a pro baseball player.
But Uncle Bill? Man, I WORSHIPED that guy as a kid. He was in the army, so that gave me a lot of respect for him. He was in Vietnam, drafted, the only one of my dad's family to be drafted, though my dad was close. He was in the shit, but didn't suffer for it or anything like that. He was shot in the thigh, any higher he'd be like a smarter Forrest Gump. It wasn't a million dollar wound or anything, and he was back looking for Charlie before you knew it. This was all, of course, before I was born. But as a kid Uncle Bill was my favorite dude in the world. He was always telling hilarious jokes and buying us ice cream and doing all sorts of rad projects. He even played Dungeons and Dragons with us. He was the worst Dungeon Master ever but we didn't give a shit, it was Uncle Bill, the coolest goddamn uncle in the world.
And by we I mean myself and my estranged cousins who I think are now in a mental asylum. Schizophrenia.
I remember always going over to my grandmother's house, she'd drive over to Uncle Bill's house and it'd be awesome. He had a goddamn Sega Genesis in the attic! We'd go up there and play some Streets of Rage and have a blast, then we'd go get some hotdogs and go to a White Sox game. Me and my Uncle Bill. I would go to family gatherings at my Uncle Frank's house (Uncle Frank being the uncle who gave me beer and told me it was apple juice. I was six.), in the basement was a Nintendo Entertainment System and SUper Mario Brothers. The kids would stay in the basement playing Mario. Then down comes Uncle Bill who showed us a bunch of secrets and hidden 1-Ups. If we ever got stuck, Uncle Bill would come and beat the level. Shit yeah.
He got into a car accident when I was seven, a nasty wreck that took the life of the driver and passenger of the car that hit him. The Fire Department had to use the Jaws of Life to get Bill out of there. But Bill didn't have a scratch. And that was how he became my Invincible Uncle Bill. My grandmother and he told me his war stories and it added to the legend that was my uncle. I loved this dude. He was awesome.
When I was nine he adopted his daughter, my aunt Kathy being barren. Her name is Ashley and is the only other black kid on my dad's side of the family, next to myself of course. Ashley and I were friendly almost from the get go. It was pretty cool having a relative my own age that I could actually stand to be around.
But then Bill, Kathy, and Ashley moved way upstate and I didn't see them as much. As I got older, I saw him less and less, but he was still my awesome uncle Bill. I saw him at least once a year, if not more. I remember one year, I was thirteen or fourteen, Ashley's birthday came up and all she wanted was a horse. Uncle Bill got her a god damn horse. And Ashley is still way into horseback riding, so it wasn't one of those phases. Uncle Bill is the coolest motherfucker ever. He got kicked by the horse and was totally fine.
But last night we got a call from my grandmother, my dad's mom, regarding Bill.
Bill has been battling cancer for the better half of a year or so. It's gotten extremely bad over the last few days. He can't even turn over without it causing excruciating pain. He can't talk much due to pain. He might not even make it to this weekend.
It's world shattering, in a way. Uncle Bill, my awesome invincible uncle! He could do anything! Survive anything!
But it seems as if those fantasies of youth might come crumbling down around me as I realize that my invincible Uncle Bill, might not even make it through the night. I can't imagine what my dad is feeling, he was closest to Bill out of all his brothers. I know that life is a finite thing, but it's still so....I don't even know how to describe it. Man.
Pull through, Uncle Bill. Please.
It's a sad thing when you are faced with potentially losing a loved one.
But Uncle Bill? Man, I WORSHIPED that guy as a kid. He was in the army, so that gave me a lot of respect for him. He was in Vietnam, drafted, the only one of my dad's family to be drafted, though my dad was close. He was in the shit, but didn't suffer for it or anything like that. He was shot in the thigh, any higher he'd be like a smarter Forrest Gump. It wasn't a million dollar wound or anything, and he was back looking for Charlie before you knew it. This was all, of course, before I was born. But as a kid Uncle Bill was my favorite dude in the world. He was always telling hilarious jokes and buying us ice cream and doing all sorts of rad projects. He even played Dungeons and Dragons with us. He was the worst Dungeon Master ever but we didn't give a shit, it was Uncle Bill, the coolest goddamn uncle in the world.
And by we I mean myself and my estranged cousins who I think are now in a mental asylum. Schizophrenia.
I remember always going over to my grandmother's house, she'd drive over to Uncle Bill's house and it'd be awesome. He had a goddamn Sega Genesis in the attic! We'd go up there and play some Streets of Rage and have a blast, then we'd go get some hotdogs and go to a White Sox game. Me and my Uncle Bill. I would go to family gatherings at my Uncle Frank's house (Uncle Frank being the uncle who gave me beer and told me it was apple juice. I was six.), in the basement was a Nintendo Entertainment System and SUper Mario Brothers. The kids would stay in the basement playing Mario. Then down comes Uncle Bill who showed us a bunch of secrets and hidden 1-Ups. If we ever got stuck, Uncle Bill would come and beat the level. Shit yeah.
He got into a car accident when I was seven, a nasty wreck that took the life of the driver and passenger of the car that hit him. The Fire Department had to use the Jaws of Life to get Bill out of there. But Bill didn't have a scratch. And that was how he became my Invincible Uncle Bill. My grandmother and he told me his war stories and it added to the legend that was my uncle. I loved this dude. He was awesome.
When I was nine he adopted his daughter, my aunt Kathy being barren. Her name is Ashley and is the only other black kid on my dad's side of the family, next to myself of course. Ashley and I were friendly almost from the get go. It was pretty cool having a relative my own age that I could actually stand to be around.
But then Bill, Kathy, and Ashley moved way upstate and I didn't see them as much. As I got older, I saw him less and less, but he was still my awesome uncle Bill. I saw him at least once a year, if not more. I remember one year, I was thirteen or fourteen, Ashley's birthday came up and all she wanted was a horse. Uncle Bill got her a god damn horse. And Ashley is still way into horseback riding, so it wasn't one of those phases. Uncle Bill is the coolest motherfucker ever. He got kicked by the horse and was totally fine.
But last night we got a call from my grandmother, my dad's mom, regarding Bill.
Bill has been battling cancer for the better half of a year or so. It's gotten extremely bad over the last few days. He can't even turn over without it causing excruciating pain. He can't talk much due to pain. He might not even make it to this weekend.
It's world shattering, in a way. Uncle Bill, my awesome invincible uncle! He could do anything! Survive anything!
But it seems as if those fantasies of youth might come crumbling down around me as I realize that my invincible Uncle Bill, might not even make it through the night. I can't imagine what my dad is feeling, he was closest to Bill out of all his brothers. I know that life is a finite thing, but it's still so....I don't even know how to describe it. Man.
Pull through, Uncle Bill. Please.
It's a sad thing when you are faced with potentially losing a loved one.