Uncle Mike

Last week my uncle passed away. He went into the hospital and my mom said that they gave him about 7 months to live, which was shocking in itself. Then a couple of days later my mom said that she didn't think he was going to last the week. Everything went downhill very quickly and he ended up passing about around 2:00 a.m. on Tuesday morning. Most of my mom's brothers and sisters were able to be there with him, which was nice.

On Thursday, after the services we all went to my Nanny's house. It ended up being such a nice day. My mom is one of 11 kids (well, 9 now) and not everyone lives here so it has been YEARS since everyone was all together. My grandma, all aunts and uncles, cousins, and then those of us with kids were all together in one place. It was obviously a sad occasion that brought us all together, but we just really enjoyed the day. The boys played football, the kids ran around with each other, and the ladies sat around and talked. We stayed until it was time to go to bed and no one could keep their eyes open anymore. It was a perfect end to the day.... I think Uncle Mike would have been happy about that.

Bernard (or 'Nard as Andrew calls him), Joshua, Andrew and River

Nicholas, Katherine, and Andrew

My mom, Uncle Mark, Aunt Debra, Uncle Randy, Gayle, Betty, Roslyn, Nanny, Aunt Donna, and Grandma (all of my mom's siblings with their mom)

Tina and myself

Alexander, Katherine, and Andrew enjoying a lollipop.