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5ksandcabernets: A life ending, beginning

5ksandcabernets

Monday, January 5, 2009

A life ending, beginning

I lost an uncle Monday. My brother called me around 2:30 p.m. and said, "Lee died."
Just like that. A 49-year-old man. Gone. His girlfriend, Karen, later told us that at about 1:30, Lee went outside to smoke a cigarette, came back in, laid on the bed and said, "I feel dizzy, whew." And that was it. He was dead before the paramedics could get him to the hospital.
Lee, who was not overweight, had been having high blood pressure issues, had recently complained of chest pains, and had been downing a lot of Maalox for what he thought was severe heart burn. Early indications are that a heart attack killed him.
And so my mom loses her brother, my grandmother loses her son, and the rest of us lose a crazy, cool uncle.
When I was much younger, Lee told me about girls. Lee let me drive his car when I was a senior in high school and didn't kill me when I wrecked it and the mechanics told him it was totaled because I'd broken the A-frame.
Lee and I grew apart as I got older, but he always called me from time to time to check on how I was doing. The last time I saw him was in August, when our family got together to celebrate the 60th wedding anniversary of my maternal grandparents. The rest of my family last saw Lee on Christmas. (I was in Austin seeing my 17-month-old son, Noah)
"When you gone call your uncle," Lee used to always ask me.
Well, Lord knows I didn't call enough.
Thirty minutes after getting the call from my brother, Nancy calls me. Before I tell her the news about Lee, she tells me what Noah has been doing.
"I just thought you'd wanna know that Noah has been walking around with your picture in his hand saying, 'Daddy, Daddy"
A life ending and a life beginning. Damn, what do you do with that.

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18 Comments:

Blogger Sara said...

i'm very sorry to hear about your loss. my thoughts and prayers go out to you and your family--it sounds like you lost a wonderful uncle.

January 5, 2009 at 10:56 PM  
Blogger Billy said...

Terribly sorry my man. I know we all have to go sometime but man, 49 is just too damn early.

Hopefully, what was lacking in quantity was made up in quality.

My thoughts with you and yours Kev. Stay up.

January 5, 2009 at 11:45 PM  
Blogger fraizerbaz said...

Wow, 49 really is too young. I am so sorry for your loss.

January 6, 2009 at 9:15 AM  
Blogger Reese said...

Remembering the cool uncle, cool.

January 6, 2009 at 9:34 AM  
Blogger Run For Life said...

I'm sorry to hear about your family's loss. Take it easy.

January 6, 2009 at 2:53 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Sending you a big, warm hug. I'm sorry about your loss, too.

This post gave me the chills. Beautiful.

January 6, 2009 at 7:22 PM  
Blogger rodney said...

Sorry, dude. That's so young. You just never know.

January 6, 2009 at 7:59 PM  
Blogger Lindsay said...

oh kevin i'm so sorry to hear! it's always harder when it's so unexpected, 49 is too too early. my thoughts and prayers to you and your family. keep on remembering all the great things about your uncle.

January 6, 2009 at 8:14 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

so sorry to hear about your uncle passing away.

it's strange how things work out that way. i remember going to my grandmother's funeral and knowing something was different with me...later, i find out, i'm pregnant with my youngest...and your thoughts are similar to what i thought of then...

my thoughts are with you and your family...
i

January 6, 2009 at 8:34 PM  
Blogger Kevin said...

Thanks for all the kind words - its funny, you guys - my blogging friends - know more about my life than many of my non-blogger buddies.
Lee was a good dude.

January 6, 2009 at 8:37 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Kevin, funny you say that about us knowing more about you...i feel the same way...but you know what i think about that? Is that we CHOOSE to care...sad in some ways but so true in other ways...

January 7, 2009 at 11:17 AM  
Blogger rolf said...

i'm very sorry to hear about your uncle, 49 is way too young for that kind of thing to happen. thoughts and prayers for your family.

January 7, 2009 at 2:42 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

I'm so sorry about the loss of your uncle. Hugs to you!

January 7, 2009 at 7:24 PM  
Blogger Victoria said...

I´m sorry to hear about your uncle. Thinking of you.

January 8, 2009 at 8:32 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

I'm sorry for your loss. Forty-nine just seems so young.

January 8, 2009 at 12:43 PM  
Blogger DawnB said...

sorry to hear about your loss

January 10, 2009 at 8:10 PM  
Blogger Laura said...

Kevin, I'm so sorry to hear of your loss! My thoughts are with you.

January 17, 2009 at 2:57 PM  
Blogger Rich said...

Sorry to hear about this Kevin.

January 25, 2009 at 6:13 PM  

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