WHAT DOES FAMILY MEAN TO YOU?

My Uncle Bobby is dead!

He took his last breath on Friday, August 1, 2008. Unfortunately, I was the first person in the hospital to arrive right after he gave up his fight with cancer, pneumonia, and other ailments. As I entered into the ICU, I was appalled to hear that he passed. It was so shocking that I went into the room and said, "HEY UNCLE BOB!," in that playful, girlish voice that I had when I was a kid (Although, I am an adult I still felt like a little girl around Uncle Bob because he treated each and everyone of his nieces/nephews so special). He laid there unresponsive and all went awry.

The tears begin to flow and the memories came with them.

"Thanks Uncle Bob for teaching me how to ride my bike."

"Thanks Uncle Bob for being such a genuine and caring individual."

"Thanks Uncle Bob telling me to not cry because everything would be alright."

After all of this I had to stay and wait for my Aunt to arrive and hear the news about her husband of more than thirty years. I waited in the room, and when she arrive with other family all I could do was curl up in the corner of the room with my back turned because it was all too much to bear.

He left her. He promised that he wouldn't! He promised that everything would be okay.

No one could predict that it wouldn't because he was a man of his word. He was a kind, loving, easy going person. He had a passion for music and art. He would put his life on the line for golf. It was the only woman that could come between his wife and he. He will truly be missed by hundreds, if not thousands of people. He was respected and influential to the the brothas/sistas in the "hood" as well as the suburbs.

I say all of this to prove that family is sacred. Family must be cherished every chance that you get.

Although life gets in the way sometimes, take a few seconds out of your day to tell at least one loved one that you appreciate them.

You never know, today may be the last day and you never got that chance to say "I love you!"