I haven't posted in a while and I hate that my new post is about death. But I feel that I need to express how much I love my family and how this tragedy really brought it to light. Thursday before last, my mom called me at work to tell me that my Uncle Bo died of complications from sickle cell. He'd been in the hospital for a couple of weeks fighting the latest crises. When I heard the news, my heart started hurting. Uncle Bo is my one of my dad's younger brothers. My dad has 5 brothers and 4 sisters. Living with sickle cell, my uncle was constantly in and out of the hospital. But he would always fight through. This time his body couldn't fight any longer. I was able to see him while we were visiting for Thanksgiving. I am grateful that I had that time with him. I am thankful that I had my uncle in my life for so long. People living with sickle cell don't have a long life expectancy.
We drove down to Arkansas to attend the wake and funeral. As always, it was great visiting relatives and seeing cousins that I hadn't seen in years. My mom's sister from Detroit drove down to show their support. My mom's brothers and sisters were all there to provide their support for my dad. They grew up in a small town in Arkansas so the community is very close-knit. I was having a great time, putting the reason why we were there to the back of my mind. I won't go into details regarding the wake and the funeral. Everything was beautiful and it was everything my uncle wanted. He wanted his funeral to be a celebration of his life. We can shed our tears, but know that he is in a better place. He's no longer sick, he's no longer in pain. That night (after the funeral, burial and repast) we went to a fish fry. It was a party-like atmosphere. We were laughing, rejoicing, watching NCAA basketball, playing cards, trash talking - being a family. It's a shame that death is what brought us all together.
While my uncle was in the hospital, he made it known that he wanted everyone to come down for the 4th of July. I'm sure he thought that he would make it through this last crises and would be well enough to host a 4th of July celebration at his house. In honor of him, we are going to keep that promise. Family is so important. Death should not be the catalyst for reaching out to your family. We're all busy doing our own thing but we shouldn't let that get in the way of keeping family first. We need to stick together and love each other.
You don't choose your family. They are God's gift to you, as you are to them. ~Desmond Tutu
When you look at your life, the greatest happinesses are family happinesses. ~Joyce Brothers
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