The Passing Of A Great Man

Yesterday morning was when my Uncle Steve Hane left this earth.  He was not quite 54 years old and he had lived with cancer for the past year.  There are things you learn as you grow up, things that you wish you knew when you were younger, especially things like how important it is to know your family, not just hang out with them a few times a year, not just send them cards or check up on them on Facebook, but really know them.  Maybe I am one of the few, the blessed, but I have an amazing family.  And I regret not having more time now, to get to know my uncle. 

For me, I love my family, I mean LOVE my family, each and every one of them make me who I am today, each one of them has impacted my life, and my Uncle Steve is no different.  While I don't claim to have known my Uncle Steve really well, definitely not as well as I would have liked, there is things that I do know.  He was all about family and all of us were always welcome in their home, he was completely loving and always ready with a smile when I saw him.

Growing up, I was convinced that my Uncle Steve was a rock star, literally.  I had heard he played in a band, had heard them practice in his basement and even snuck down there to take a peak!  As an adult I've heard them play a handful of times, but the night I will remember best was at his "going away party".  The smile on his face and the joy in his eyes, he was still a rock star to me.

As I learned things about living from my uncle, there is also things I have learned about dying from him.  It is not the time to stay in bed, feel sorry for yourself, or accept a sentence, it is a time to do the things you love, and be with the ones you love. 

We are going to say good-bye to my uncle on Friday morning, and I'm honestly not ready, it's not my timing for sure, so I am leaning on the Lord's perfect timing and finding rest in knowing that he is no longer hurting. 

As we all get older it is harder and harder for everyone to get together in one place at any given time, and I find myself missing that big family Thanksgiving and Christmas Eve at my Uncle Steve and Aunt Amy's house.  I know as we grow up and have our own little branches of our family tree we make new traditions, but somehow I feel like I had it the best, better than my kids even, when all of my aunts, uncles and cousins were there, funny as it sounds, I wish they could have been there for that.