Friday, September 2, 2016

U Ro

My Uncle Ron is dying.  He's my Godfather.  He's never married, so he really just has us.  He's always been quiet, private, kind of geeky, you know, the kind of guy I love.  And now he's in Ohio, he went into the ER last weekend.  This week they learned that he had bile duct cancer, with secondary mets on his liver and lungs.  He is weak, putting on fluid, and too weak to take any of the treatments.  He moved to hospice today.   He's in Ohio and I'm here.  I've decided to travel to Ohio with my Mom tomorrow.   She's been there all week, but she came back today, to get more clothes, oils, and meds.  And we'll go back together tomorrow.   I'm very Thankful to Eric for making this possible.   He may be calling for Reinforcements depending on how long I'm gone.


Uncle Ron as a baby in 1947 with my Opa, my Great-grandfather.  
I think he would be turning 70 this coming December.  


Uncle Ron and Uncle Rick, Thanksgiving 2004


When my Grandfather passed away in March, 2003, my cousin Daniel was 4 months old.  I was 28.
There's some age difference for you!  But how cute are they!  For a guy that never married, and never had kids, he always did remarkably well around them.  Granted, with my three, it takes a special soul not to get overwhelmed with the noise and the crazy.  

But he liked going camping.  Wide open spaces are good for all that noise and crazy.  

Uncle Ron loved to Camp. 
For a while, he'd go twice a year, once down to Greer's Ferry, Arkansas for ManCamp.  There was no hot water... barely holes in the ground for toilets.  Clearly, you can see why I never went.  

So we started FamCamp.  We'd go to a bit more modern a campground, bring the kids, more appropriate for a co-ed sort of crew.   We loved camping before kids, but it got trickier after.  It's been a little harder for us to pull together camping trips.  But when we did, they were fun.  
Much fun was always had by all.  


This was the first year we camped with Christopher.  He was almost 2.  
What a cutie!  His "Unc" showed him how things were done.


Our crew at Fam Camp 2007


Camping trip in 2010
Chris was 4, and Sam was 1.  
They got a Huge Kick out of their Uncs! 


Look how tiny the kids were!  
Eric didn't make that trip.  He was building a house.  
It was fun, but exhausting.   


We got to see my Uncles both at my cousin Robbie's wedding last summer.  
Uncle Bob passed last Halloween.  
Now we're losing Uncle Ron. 


I am Blessed that we did get to go Fam Camping with him last fall. 
Actually it was a year ago this past week, we took a weekend and popped down to Lake Patoka.  
 

I need to go to Ohio.  Mom and I are heading out in the morning.  
Prayers would be appreciated.  



1 comments:

Elizabeth said...

Praying for you, your family, and your uncle. What great memories you have. Praying for peace.