Sorrowful weekend

My family had the passing of one of my absolute favorite folks.  My Uncle Pete who has had Alzheimers for the past decade broke his hip six or seven weeks ago and was healing okay up until two weeks ago.  Then he had some digestive issues and stopped eating.  From there it was just time ticking until he stopped.  He went through the Korean war.  During which he'd been talked into the 'intelligence' side of the war and was captured and tortured.  Healing for him took him out to the Anzo-Borrego Desert for a number of years.  He was my mom's friend from the time she was 18 or 19...hence "uncle" in name and heart not blood.  He carried me home from the hospital and nicknamed me Lady.  I was called that for years.  When my older brother and I were young my mom would want to escape the Los Angeles grind and her two smaller children.  We'd drive out to the desert and visit Uncle Pete. 

Years later I found out he was suffering some traumas from the war and we kids pulled him home.  He used to walk us towards the mountains in the early morning hours and we never made it (the desert is huge and the mountains always looked much closer than they were).  Took us up to Palm Springs to play in the snow...in the summer.  I remember riding in the gondola as it went up and loving it.  I was maybe five or six years old.  Always felt safe with him.  He married my mom's best friend further cementing the links.

In high school I was offered jobs from careers with alphabets for names (think about it) and he told me he'd block any and all attempts for me to head into those jobs.  He did.  Thus a writer was born.  Still he would talk to my older brother and I about slices of his life - stuff most folks don't share.  Both my older brother and I were offered more jobs in those alphabet fields and he wanted us to know the real versus the made-for-TV special.  We both skipped it but still ended up in jobs at time where we had to have clearances.  To this day I wonder how the officials handled our background checks. 

He will be always missed and always in my heart.