I’m not usually someone who shares too much detail about my personal life over the internet. Maybe that’s because I don’t have much of a life to begin with. 
However, not even an hour ago did I talk to my Mom. When she said, ‘I have some bad news,’ I thought someone had lost their job. Instead, she informs me that her brother, my Uncle Ronnie, has passed away this afternoon. It happened peacefully while he was taking a nap, most likely a heart attack. If anyone was going to overshadow Michael Jackson’s death in my eyes, sadly this was it. And ironically, I had just finished making plans with a friend who wanted to visit Marilyn Monroe’s grave tomorrow.
I have more aunts and uncles than I can count… okay, not really, but my dad grew up in a big family. Out of all of them, Uncle Ronnie stood out because he was the one I saw more often as a kid since he and my Aunt Janet lived closer to us (they divorced a couple of years ago). I always enjoyed seeing him whenever we all came together at my grandparents’ house. I still remember his big curly hair (he even had an attempted afro in the 70’s) and big mustache and he was almost always smiling. And when he did come over, he always brought over Toby, his little beagle who was such a sweetheart. He also loved birds and will usually have one or two at a time. I believe we still have a picture of him asleep with one of the birds sitting on top of his head lost in that crazy hair.
From what I can tell, he seemed easygoing and like the simple things in life. He also always had a story to tell and was the best at keeping up a conversation without any awkward silences in between. The last time I talked to him over the phone, we talked about his travels to California, Arizona, and Nevada and he even mentioned about watching Greyhound races during that time.
My mom mentioned that what happened him should tell us to go on a diet. For me, I don’t think that should be the way to go. Although I do need to go on a diet, I don’t think my Uncle’s death should be the ‘inspiration.’ I want to lose weight for other reasons.
Sadly, a prediction of mine did come true… that my grandma would outlive him. I spoke to her too and she seems to be handling it pretty okay, maybe even better than when my grandpa died. I’m happy to know that she has her friends, neighbors, and my mom to help her with this.
I’m not sure how to end this entry but…
RIP Uncle Ronnie… and as Bob Hope says, “Thanks for the memories.”