Farewell Uncle Stan, and Thank You for this Last Gift

Just back from a recent trip to New York.  The circumstances were rather sad - my Uncle Stanly recently passed.  But some good comes from almost every life event, and as we gathered to honor a favorite uncle, a dear friend, a wonderful father, and a pillar of the local community, many of us reconnected for the first time in many years - in some case, nearly three decades.

I don't know that we would have gathered absent my uncle's passing, and so we owe him a final debt, and a final thank you.  Godspeed, uncle, and farewell.  You will live on in our memories, and that is a handsome thing to have said about one.  I hope to have half so many gathered when my time comes.

To those whom I have just met, or with whom I have reunited, thank you for your courtesy to one of the more wayward of the family.  I - we - are coming home, and I look forward to knowing each of you more fully.  As well, I look forward to knowing those new souls you have brought onto this earth - the nephews and nieces and friends and spouses and the sundry folks accompanying them.

I've posted some new pictures, and rearranged the content somewhat.  I'll be blogging a bit more often now, as well, as matters accelerate into the summer, and add pictures as I have time, so that when you meet my now mostly grown family, you'll at least know to whom you are speaking.

In the meantime, if you're curious to know who I've become, this is, I suppose, as good a place as any to start.

Vito - thanks for the picture of Uncle Stan.