-My Uncle Tom-

My Uncle Tom was a funny man. He was quirky, fun loving, and could always make me laugh. I have many fond memories, but one in particular stands out. One Christmas when I was probably 10 years old, very gullible, Tom arrives and comes up to my parent’s house carrying his shoebox and a small white jewelry box. (The shoebox was what he had packed for the long weekend – talk about a low maintainence/no fuss type of guy!) He comes in the house and has a very serious look on his face. I greet him and he lets me know that on his drive up he saw a really bad accident. He proceeds to tell me this story about the accident and how at the accident scene he found something. He holds out the white jewelry box and lifts the lid to show me a finger lying on the fluffy white cotton with blood around the base of the finger. I was shocked needless to say and for the entire day believed my uncle was walking around with a stranger’s finger in a box! Come to find out that Uncle Tom had cut a hole in the bottom of the box which allowed him to slide his finger in the box and all the gruesome blood I thought I was looking at was really Tabasco sauce! This is just one memory I have of my uncle. Another was him teaching me how to crack my nose. . .a lovely trick! I miss you Tom and can’t imagine/don’t want to imagine life without you, you are our family jokester and fun loving uncle. Who is going to be my sous chef at the holidays?! Believe me I am aware that my lemon meringue pies will not be as high of caliber without your amazing whisking skills that keep the eggs from scambling! I love you so much and miss you. xo --your niece Kaely

p.s. my all time favorite photo of Tom is the one where he is dancing @ my wedding! Someone posted it early on in the blog :)