Uncle Doug

I wish I wasn't posting this here on our blog right now. I wish Jerry's Uncle Doug hadn't passed away this weekend after a long battle with Progressive Supranuclear Palsy (PSP.) I wish I had the words to express how our hearts ache for our uncle and friend whom we loved dearly. I wish I could explain to people how fun and wonderful this man was and how much we miss him, even though we haven't seen him in years.

I wish I could go back to those days we visited Doug and Jean in Maine and relive it, to savor every moment we had together. I wish we could eat Lobster and crab rolls and drink California wine together again.

I wish this was all a bad dream and that he was going to walk in our door at any moment and give me one of his world class hugs. I wish that I could hear him say just one more time, "Yah, baybaay."

I wish that we could toast to life and sit up until the early morning hours to discuss just about anything and everything again. I wish I could play Cribbage even half as good as Uncle Doug played. I wish so many things...

I wish that we could be at his funeral; that we weren't so far away. That we could have spent his last days with him. I wish that we could cry with Aunt Jean and personally thank her for the care she gave Doug over the last seven years.

I wish there were more days for two brothers who loved each other dearly.

I wish my children would have had the pleasure to know Uncle Doug and his love for life. He had an easy going attitude that was contagious. A laugh that could make the whole room laugh.

I know that one day I will see you again in Heaven. I know it will be a glorious day.

Jerry asked me to put in this poem, that so beautifully captures the power of faith.

I am standing on the seashore.

A ship appears

and spreads her white sails

to the morning breeze

and starts for the ocean.

She is an object of beauty

and I stand watching her

till at last she fades away on the horizon,

and someone at my side quietly says,

"She is gone." Gone where?

Gone from my vision, that is all;

she is just as large as when I saw her last.

The diminished size

and the total loss of sight

is in me, not in her;

and just at the moment

when someone at my side says,

"She is gone,"

there are others who are watching

her coming and other voices

take up a joyful shout,

"There she comes!"

Author unknown. This was taken from John Maxwell's book, Today Matters.

I have fought the fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. Finally there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will give to me on that Day, and not to me only but also to all who have loved His appearing. II Timothy 4:7-8

We love you, Uncle Doug. "Dougie."