The Untitled Post

So...I haven't been posting as often as I should. Suffice it to say, life has been pretty chaotic the last couple of weeks.

Yesterday, one of the sweetest men I have ever known left this earth. Uncle Gary was diagnosed with cancer on New Year's Eve 2010, and was taken home yesterday. To watch during those 50 days has been painful, to say the least. The entire experience brought back many feelings - the same feelings that I had when my own father passed away nearly 17 years ago. I have watched my cousins, and all that they have been through during this time. They have come together, closer than they ever were. Now that's hard to imagine, because they were very close to begin with. I have the most amazing extended family you could ever imagine.

I have watched with agony and tears as my sisters have also dealt with the death of Gary. It has hit them both very hard, though you would be hard - pressed to get them to tell you that. The conversations that have taken place have been amazing. Sacred is a better word. Many of the things that have been said will never be shared with anyone else - not even close family members. They are just too special to share.

I am so grateful for the time that I had with Gary. From the brief time that I lived with them 16 years ago, until late last week, he always showed me compassion, love and caring. I could be upset because there was not enough time, but there never is...

I don't go around spreading my religous beliefs. They are mine. When people ask me about them, I tend to change the subject. My beliefs are sacred to me. Should I share them? Perhaps, but that is another topic for another day. But I do know this much, beyond any doubt whatsoever. I know that when Gary left this life, there was a great reunion in heaven. Two men, whose bruised, battered, weary bodies are still here as a symbol and a memory, shared a warm, perfect embrace in the afterlife. I like to call it Heaven personally. Dad met Gary with open arms, and with their perfect spirits, had a warm embrace that only two close sibilings would understand.

Gary leaves behind one of the sweetest women I have ever met in my entire life (and that is saying something :)). My Aunt Raynee is honestly one of the most selfless people I have ever known. She, having battled her own health challenges over the years, has always put everyone's needs in front of her own. There is a family joke that instead of numerals on the house, it should have said "Boarding House - Rooms available. No reservations required." She and Gary over the years have opened their home to anyone that needed it. Sometimes it was as simple as a meal. Other times, it was a place to stay while things worked themselves out. But it was, and still is, a sanctuary from this world. Their home is the shelter from the storm of live.

I love Raynee with all my heart. I love her as much as I love my own mother. I love her for the way that she has treated my children - the same that she treats her own grandchildren. To know Raynee is to love Raynee. And I am so grateful for her, and for everything that she has done for me.