Rest in Peace, Uncle Jack

I received the sad news on Tuesday that my "Uncle" Jack passed away earlier this month. It's interesting how news like this can sometimes hit much harder than you'd think. His death has been heavy on my heart and I thought I would share a bit about him and why he meant so much to me.

Uncle Jack was a dear friend of my father's. I have to admit that I don't know the family stories nearly as well as I wish I did, but my understanding is that my dad and Uncle Jack went to seminary together. My father was a Redemptorist priest before he met and married my mother. Anyone who knows anything about Catholics will know that leaving the priesthood was not exactly a popular move - neither with his brother priests nor with his family. Not to mention that there was quite a large age difference between my parents. (For the record, Izzie will be locked in a tower indefinitely if she ever thinks of having a relationship with a man that much older than her!) It took a long time to reconcile with his family, which meant that for most of my childhood, we had little contact with my extended family. That made our extended family of friends very valuable. Uncle Jack was a particularly valuable friend because he was one of the few of the Redemptorists to stay in contact with my father. He and a friend would come down to visit us every Fall. I remember it was Fall because they would always stop at Eckert's Orchard to go apple picking on the way to Farmington. They would bring us lots of apples. That's the major impression of him from my 8 year-old self.

They remained friends until my dad passed away about 5 years ago. (Hard to believe it's been that long!) Uncle Jack concelebrated my dad's funeral Mass. Uncle Jack and I have exchanged Christmas cards for years, but this became even more important to me after my dad's death. For whatever reason, I wrote to him about some doubts I had regarding what I should do with my life. He wrote me back saying very encouraging things that were so much like what my dad would have said. He also said that regardless of what I chose to do, he knew my dad would have been very proud of me. Even though we didn't correspond often, knowing Uncle Jack was out there was kinda like having a bit of my dad still with us. I hadn't realized that per se until I heard of his passing and felt like I just lost the last bit of my dad I had. I said this to Ian as I was holding Isabelle and he told me I had part of my dad sitting in my lap. Since she was born, I've thought a million times that I wish my dad were here to meet Isabelle. I like to imagine that she knew him in Heaven before she was born.

I'm sad to have lost my uncle, but I know he has joined his old buddy in Heaven. I'm sure they're up there right now laughing about old times and enjoying a pint. Slainte!