Goodbye Uncle Ron ... You were dearly loved and will be missed.

My Uncle Ron passed away in his sleep last night.  He was an amazing man who taught me alot.  He and my Auntie Margaret (she passed away a few years ago) were absolutely fantastic to me growing up.  We used to go to Victoria to visit them almost every summer.  I have fabulous memories of those holidays spent with them.  The photo above was taken two years ago when we last visited Canada.  We went with my parents and Emma to visit my Uncle Ron.

My Uncle Ron had a rough last few years after losing my Auntie Margaret.  His health continued to deteriorate and he couldn't continue to live on his own.  I must admit that it was very hard to visit him at the "hospital/home" where he was living.  Some of the memories I had of my uncle were mostly of him taking me on his motorcycle, watching while he worked on restoring one of his "project" cars (Model A, Model T), and going for walks down to the Marina by his house.  He even let me drive his boat ... way before I was even legal to drive a car :0)

Probably some of my favourite memories involve the object you see above that Emma is giving to him ... yup, my Uncle Ron was notorious for squirting me with water whenever we visited him!  I can remember staying with them one summer and managing to dump a glass of water out of the guest room upstairs onto his head :0)  After that, it was pretty much war!  He used to greet me at the door with a water pistol, full, and at the ready.  In fact, I think the first time I took Joel to meet them ... He pretty much squirted me full in the face as he opened the door to us! Yup, he and Joel got along pretty well from then on!

As you can see from this picture above, he hadn't lost his touch with a water gun ... but Emma sure won him over even from that first and last visit!  We were standing together to get the first two photos above and I remember asking him "So Uncle Ron, what do you think of our Emma, is she cuter than I was?"  My Uncle Ron replied something to the effect of "I'd toss a coin!"

I'm not sure if there will be a memorial service for my Uncle Ron or not (don't you just love family drama?)... but, I wanted to make sure that I had a chance to remember and acknowledge someone who was incredibly important, valuable, and such a huge blessing to me in my life.  He and my Auntie Margaret were two people who helped me to become the person I am today.  A person who knows that she was incredibly loved as she grew up, graduated high school, went to university, got married, moved to Ireland, had a baby girl ... and I probably still even have the cards and letters from them to prove it.  I love you Uncle Ron.  I will miss you, but I will never forget you, and I will tell Emma about you and show her these pictures of you.  I wish she could have met Auntie Margaret too, but I will tell her about you both and how much you meant to me.  Love you Uncle "Linus"!  Love, your "Charlie Brown"