"Father's Day Tragedy"

I got a cellphone call about 40 minutes before my shift was going to end from home, and my parents knew I was going to home for dinner. I knew almost right away that something was up and possibly bad news awaited me on the voicemail. So I ducked into the bathroom to check my voice message. My uncle Ray had collapsed at his work and was rushed to the hospital.

By the time I was out the door my parents were at the hospital in Cumberland County. By the time I had fought the rush hour traffic to get around the corner from my house he was gone. My mother told me he was gone, and I could muster a word. Besides being a smoker and have in diabetes, from he didn't have any real heart problems. He however was VERY stubborn about taking his medicine for his blood presure and refused to give up caffine. He was one of those guys that didn't really want to go to the doctors till he was drug there.

Still it was a total and utter shock to me to lose my uncle who was only 61, and younger than my father. I can't even imagine what my cousin Sean who is a year older than me is going through.

One prepares themselves to lose family members in life, but you usually don't prepare yourself for the unexpected. Just as much as I don't know what writing about this on my blog is going to accomplish it just doesn't make sense to me at all.

My Uncle Ray was my god father and was the husband of my father's sister. Now my Uncle Ray wasn't always overly enthusiastic about family gathers but you knew he loved his family. He couldn’t go 4 minutes without talking about his son. No matter what it was. He was somewhat quiet, but one of those people that would open up if you started talking to him. So I wasn’t always REALLY close with him, but I did go on a vacation with him when I was 16. I have known him since I was in diapers, and see him for every major holiday.

I have just been just utterly overwhelmed by the news. My aunt and him were really close, so I worry how she will take the loss. This coming on the heals where my half brother Rick resurfaced and everything was going well. I have just never been blind sided by the death of a family member.


I talked to him at a Memorial Day cook out a few weeks ago. Everything seemed fine. We talked about Sean (his son) getting new jeep, and how my uncle had given up watching professional sports, shopping for a new carand various other topics. It is still hard to imagine that he is gone.


Again I don’t what writing about this is going to do, just like I don’t know what to say to my aunt, and cousin. I guess death is part of life, but it doesn’t mean it doesn’t really suck. With Father's Day coming up on Sunday it just makes it suck even more.