I\u2019m sitting surrounded by people but someone is missing.\u00a0 I can pretend he is in another room.\u00a0 Maybe he\u2019s in the basement.\u00a0 Or he\u2019s just not home right now.\u00a0 But where else would he be?\u00a0 Uncle Gordon wouldn\u2019t miss this time with his family.\u00a0 But he is. \u00a0And we miss him.<\/p>\n
All weekend I have been listening to tributes and memories of Uncle Gordon, or Uncle for short.\u00a0 And I have realized a few things.\u00a0 First of all, my knowledge of him was a small part of who he was.\u00a0 I was in a bubble, a happy bubble.\u00a0 But this seems to be part of who he was.\u00a0 Uncle was a man of few words and I knew everything that I needed to know.\u00a0 As I listen to the stories I don\u2019t feel like I missed out by not knowing them, rather I\u2019m intrigued.\u00a0 I have always been in awe of him and liked to believe that he could do no wrong.\u00a0 That hasn\u2019t changed; I like him on his pedestal.\u00a0 Uncle was quiet and didn\u2019t announce his accomplishments, or much of anything else.\u00a0 I only found out his age and birth date as well as Auntie Doris\u2019s last year.\u00a0 This summer he finally started to tell me stories about himself.\u00a0 I never felt that he was keeping anything from me; it just wasn\u2019t part of the conversation.\u00a0 I would have loved to write more blogs about him before he passed but I felt like it would embarrass him and he would have thought it was unnecessary. \u00a0He didn\u2019t think he had done anything special he just did what he felt was right.<\/p>\n
Something else that I realized is how incredibly fortunate I am to have not only one Dad, but 2 Dad\u2019s with an incredible legacy of God, generosity, integrity and work ethic.\u00a0 What were the chances?\u00a0 This is evidence of God\u2019s incredible timing and planning.\u00a0 When my Father was taken from us it could have been the end of that path for me.\u00a0 But God knew that I was still going to need a Dad and the perfect one was just down the road so He put him in place for me.\u00a0 Uncle Gordon wasn\u2019t necessarily there to fill the need of discipline or deep conversations; he was there for me to fill the role as a daddy\u2019s girl.\u00a0 I have absolutely no doubt that had my Father lived I would have been a \u201cdaddy\u2019s girl\u201d.\u00a0 And that is the role that Uncle Gordon filled for me.\u00a0 And maybe God knew that Uncle needed a little girl hanging around for some other reason that none of us will ever know.\u00a0 We all have different needs and paths.\u00a0 Apparently one of my needs as a kid was to have many stand-in parents.\u00a0 Sometimes I\u2019m not so sure of how to take that.\u00a0 But God knew that was what I would need to make it through.\u00a0 And I am so thankful that He had a plan because the rest of us were just getting by.<\/p>\n
One realization that I didn’t have was I thought that when I got to Moosomin I would have the sudden realization of Uncle Gordon being gone.\u00a0 But I didn\u2019t.\u00a0 I went to the viewing and looked into his face but I didn\u2019t see him; I just saw the shell.\u00a0 I knew more than I have ever known at all the funerals I have been to that he was no longer there but it was more comfort that I felt than sadness, I was happy for him.\u00a0 I thought for sure when we went to the house I would feel a massive void.\u00a0 But I didn\u2019t.\u00a0 I did notice that he was missing but it was not the overwhelming feeling of sadness that I had expected.\u00a0 It may have been that there were enough people around to not feel his absence the way I had expected.\u00a0 All through the weekend it was just as if he was in the other room.\u00a0 A few times I thought I saw him out of the corner of my eye but then I would quickly realize that it was his son.\u00a0 I never realized how much they look alike.\u00a0 I wonder if the next visit will be different.<\/p>\n
Moosomin will always be home to me.\u00a0 My parents and extended family built the foundation but Uncle Gordon and Auntie Doris made it a home.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
I\u2019m sitting surrounded by people but someone is missing.\u00a0 I can pretend he is in another room.\u00a0 Maybe he\u2019s in the basement.\u00a0 Or he\u2019s just not home right now.\u00a0 But where else would he be?\u00a0 Uncle Gordon wouldn\u2019t miss this … Continue reading