My Uncle

I use to barely go over one of my Uncle Ray’s house (mostly because he lived in another state than me and my family). My Uncle is a very cool and laid back person. But, just because he was laidback didn’t mean that if he catches you doing something you weren’t supposed to do, there weren’t consequences. I think the first time I remember going over there is to celebrate one of my cousin’s birthdays and I remember his house being pretty big. His downstairs was huge and he had a second floor with like 5 rooms on that floor alone. He also had a basement that was huge and had a little kitchen (without a sink). I was about 9 at the time and my sister was around 5 and my sister, me, and my cousins were playing hide and seek in the dark. I remember most of us being kind of scared since you could tell that the house was pretty old. The stairs would creak loud and the house just gave you that vibe that you could see a ghost if you hit the wrong turn.

Anyway, we went to the basement, turned off the lights and then we all yelled “Not it!” and my cousin (let's just call him Jay to not reveal any names) was the last to say not it, and was it. So while he sat at the stairs and counted, we all hid. Before Jay found us all, we got called for dinner. That dinner was the most fun dinner, probably since birth. They had all of the food I ever ate and more. We ate crabs, fried chicken, fried fish, beans and rice, baked beans, mashed potatoes, and more. I ate until I almost broke through the floor, then it was goodbye and then I wouldn’t be back until I was 12.

It was right after Christmas and I was playing my new 3DS( It was new when I first got it) and my mom said that we were going back to Uncle Ray’s house for the rest of Christmas break. I was all for it. So we get there and a lot of my favorite cousins were there and it was pretty fun. I remember my uncle made us split pea soup and I said it looks like throw-up. My cousin tried to snitch me to get me in trouble, but then I tasted it and I said that it tastes good, but it looks like throw-up. That's when my uncle taught me that when something doesn’t look good on the outside, you don’t know if on the inside it might be great. Then, the rest of my time was just me chilling with my cousins until it was time to leave again and, not gonna lie, I was kinda sad to leave. The best time I had over there, by far was when I was either 14 or 15, but one of my most favorite cousins came back around after like 4 years. It was summer break and all we did was go places, mess around, then come back to our grandma’s house and play on my Xbox for the rest of the day. Then, while we were over my aunt’s house and I and my cousins were playing Super Smash Bros. my mom and aunt announced that we were going over Uncle Ray’s house for some special event that I forgot since it was like two years ago. 

Anyway, we get there and my cousin brings his Wii and we all play Super Smash Bros. Brawl (the best only because of Subspace). Then we all go to the park because everyone wanted to play basketball and I didn’t want to get left with all the adults so I go even though I am poop at basketball. We hang out at the basketball for like an hour and a half until it looks like it’s about to rain so we head back. We all go back to Uncle Ray’s house and have a good time until we have to leave, again.

Then, at like around October, I hear from my Uncle that Uncle Ray has cancer, and I’m devastated, who was going to bring the whole family together for big events, who’s gonna be one of the ONLY cool adults in the family. Then, in like a month, my uncle told me that Uncle Ray was dead and I didn’t know how to react. He did go through chemo for quite a while because ever since I’ve known him he was bald, but in old pictures, he had very long dreads. He was hiding CHEMOTHERAPY under our noses so we wouldn’t worry about him and be all sympathetic which is kinda annoying because that would be the first thing everyone would talk about if he was in the building, effectively making him a walking party pooper, which he was quite the opposite. When Thanksgiving came around, my aunt who was very close to him and took care of him most of the time hosted a party at her house to commemorate him and how much we care for him and want him back. The funeral next year was also very sad. And since it is the month that he died, I decided to make this article to commemorate my uncle not as some sad soul who died to the most unfortunate disease, but as the world’s coolest uncle since the dawn of time.