Wednesday June 20: To Ohio and Back

Uncle Leo on Yesterday's Dream - fishing in Lake Erie

My uncle on my Mom's side had not been doing very well for the past month and we knew it was just a matter of time.

We had been able to stop and see him about a month ago - knowing that we would not see him again.

Uncle Leo was a great guy. He told us his father, my grandfather, always said "Nothing beats fun!" And therefore Leo was always about having fun. He joined us a number of years ago on Yesterday's Dream to do some perch fishing on Lake Erie.

So after receiving a call from my brother Tom, last Thursday, we made arrangements to drive back to Ohio for his funeral. One good thing about funerals is that it's about the only time our rather large extended family is in one place.

My grandparents had 5 kids (actually 7 - 6 girls and 1 boy but two of the girls died as young children). These 5 kids produced 24 grandchildren and I have no idea of how many great-grandchildren! The point is that I had a lot of cousins :-) Very different than today. (Our children have only 8 cousins.)

I saw cousins that I hadn't seen for 4 years - 2014 - the summer my mom and her sister both died. The memories shared at these gatherings are precious. It is wonderful to be able to celebrate the wonderful accomplishments and lives of those who have passed on. At this gathering we learned something we never heard before. Uncle Leo told his kids, "Never say Good Bye. It is too permanent. Always say "See you soon." Or "Until we see you again." So to Uncle Leo we say, "See you again, save a nice place for us."