Remembering...

I am remembering my uncles today.  They passed away two years and a day apart.  They were so much a part of my growing up that I took them for granted.  I have been thinking of them these past two days.  I have been remembering the times that we all spent together...the holidays....and the every days.  When I think of them I can still hear their voices.....talking to me as if no time had passed, as if I had just seen them yesterday.  With Uncle Eddie there were never huge greetings.....if I hadn't seen him in months, just the way he said my name..."Nanny", he called me....made it seem as if we had just seen each other yesterday.  Uncle Walter always had a smile and a hug and a joke or a story.  I had heard some before, I rolled my eyes, I laughed.  I always treasured his spirit.

I think that so often we take family for granted.  We just always assume they are going to be there.  One day...we wake up, and they are gone.  We aren't sure when it happened...and why we didn't take more pictures.  We wonder why we just didn't make more time for each other...instead of always running around doing other things that seemed more important at the time.

But they live on in my heart....and in the hearts of my family....and I miss them......with all my heart, I miss them!

“There is no death, daughter. People die only when we forget them,' my mother explained shortly before she left me. 'If you can remember me, I will be with you always.” 

~ Isabel Allende