Today we said farewell to a dear uncle, Uncle Ron. In the last few years, I didn’t get to see him much, but I will not forget the precious times we had and how he went out of his way to treat everyone with love and dignity.
Uncle Ron married my father’s sister somewhere around 2004. I don’t have the exact dates but they were married for the last 22 years. Uncle Ron became part of our family immediately and showed great respect for my grandmother and grandfather. He didn’t want to get married if they didn’t give their blessing. This was despite the fact that he was already 50 years old. I know that this is no longer the way western society operates, but given how badly it is falling apart, I prefer Uncle Ron’s approach.
Uncle Ron always explained to people that he comes from Kimberly, 7000 km from “Here”. As kids, we always found this funny as it was the way he started most of the conversations we heard. He would also tell us that all the time, as if we didn’t hear it the first time. Kids find a way to entertain themselves, hey?
Uncle Ron treated our aunt very well. He was committed to her and to her kids. He took them as his own. He sacrificed for them.
I also have a bit of an embarrassing memory of uncle Ron. Him and my uncle Ephron had a business. I won’t go into details about what they did, but I was one of their employees. It was my first job right out of college. The business was struggling and my motivation was low. All of my friends were off making good money and seeing the world and I felt stuck. So one morning I just didn’t go in. I know I should have done better, but hey that was back then. I woke up late that morning and to my surprise, both my uncles were standing over my bed interrogating me. I had no answers. We eventually settled our differences and moved on, but that was a very interesting time! Uncle Ron moved passed that and we always had insightful conversations after that.
Two of his sayings I always want to remember are his approaches to problem solving and hard work.
On problem solving he would say, you need to have a helicopter view and then dive into the detail and then later, remember to zoom out again.
On hard work he would say, the root of success is bitter, but the fruits are sweet.
We will miss his dancing and his presence at family gatherings. Something that I’m really sad about is how the older people in our family are dying. The people who kept the traditions. The ones who made sure we see each other. Now that responsibility rests on us.