My mother has two older sisters and one younger brother. His name is Keith and he has always had bad taste in women.
Uncle Keith is a few years younger than my mother and there is a picture of him at my mother and father's wedding with one of his girlfriends. They were quite happy back then, smiling and laughing in the photo, holding each other. Keith's girlfriend looks young and pretty and sweet. They had two kids together and lived in the same house for a number of years, for most of my childhood anyway, but they never got married. This girlfriend is a crazy woman and she and my Uncle Keith did drugs and drank together - they broke up when their children were still fairly young.
Keith always partied fairly hard throughout his life until more recently. His kids are older now and he has a house and steady work. He has another long-standing live-in girlfriend, this one an alcoholic chain smoker with a voice like gravel. She had a baby after they had been together for a while but she is not my uncle's child. Still, he has raised her as his own. Despite her mother's initial protests this little girl, Cheyenne, calls my Uncle Keith "Daddy" and has always thought of him as her father. He changed her diapers and held her when she cried. He brought her to Christmas and Thanksgiving dinner where my relatives fawned over how adorable she was.
Keith has always been a pretty cool guy despite his flaws, delighting in pyrotechnics and driving too fast down the rural highways near my grandmother's house. My mother always takes the family photo when we're gathered there every Christmas and Keith never smiles. One year she caught him with a half-smile on his face. She had shouted "Merry Christmas, FUCKERS!" before pressing the shutter button. Everyone is laughing in that picture.
Yesterday my mother went to Illinois, where she grew up and then raised me. My great Uncle Jerry died last week and her whole family was in town for his funeral. My mother and her sisters and her brother stayed in the house together. Keith complained of heartburn and stayed up while everyone else went to bed.
This morning my mother and her sisters found my Uncle Keith dead on the floor.
Today is Cheyenne's birthday.
Uncle Keith is a few years younger than my mother and there is a picture of him at my mother and father's wedding with one of his girlfriends. They were quite happy back then, smiling and laughing in the photo, holding each other. Keith's girlfriend looks young and pretty and sweet. They had two kids together and lived in the same house for a number of years, for most of my childhood anyway, but they never got married. This girlfriend is a crazy woman and she and my Uncle Keith did drugs and drank together - they broke up when their children were still fairly young.
Keith always partied fairly hard throughout his life until more recently. His kids are older now and he has a house and steady work. He has another long-standing live-in girlfriend, this one an alcoholic chain smoker with a voice like gravel. She had a baby after they had been together for a while but she is not my uncle's child. Still, he has raised her as his own. Despite her mother's initial protests this little girl, Cheyenne, calls my Uncle Keith "Daddy" and has always thought of him as her father. He changed her diapers and held her when she cried. He brought her to Christmas and Thanksgiving dinner where my relatives fawned over how adorable she was.
Keith has always been a pretty cool guy despite his flaws, delighting in pyrotechnics and driving too fast down the rural highways near my grandmother's house. My mother always takes the family photo when we're gathered there every Christmas and Keith never smiles. One year she caught him with a half-smile on his face. She had shouted "Merry Christmas, FUCKERS!" before pressing the shutter button. Everyone is laughing in that picture.
Yesterday my mother went to Illinois, where she grew up and then raised me. My great Uncle Jerry died last week and her whole family was in town for his funeral. My mother and her sisters and her brother stayed in the house together. Keith complained of heartburn and stayed up while everyone else went to bed.
This morning my mother and her sisters found my Uncle Keith dead on the floor.
Today is Cheyenne's birthday.
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-TM