Goodbye Shorty

An uncle of mine just pasted away on Monday, January 21, 2013. Even though he lived an hour away from our family when I was growing up, our families were always close. His family will host a visitation of family members today, January 26th, 2013.

He was a true outdoorsman. Loved to fish and hunt. I was able to go deer hunting with him and some friends one year. We were hunting in the National Forest in Bath County Virginia. We stayed in a cabin used in the summer as a camp for girls. It was enclosed but did not have heat. Luckily it was not too cold when we stayed there and it did have a bathroom so we could at least brush our teeth and wash our face. There was no need for showering at the end of the day, at that time of year, thank goodness, as the water was cold only, no hot available.

As he aged he would drive to our farm and park his truck behind the old barn and wait for the deer to show at first light of day. This way if he got something he could drive to the kill site and load the deer right into the bed of the truck.

His son is five years younger than I. Even though we are first cousins, my daughters say we could be brothers. I guess brothers from two different mothers. My youngest daughter even shared a birthday with Shorty. She said they were birthday twins. As I said the family is close. He will be truly missed but I know he is fishing the banks of the river just off the celestial highway in the shade of a tree smoking a cigarette.

Goodbye Uncle Shorty. It was a pleasure knowing you.