Bleeding Souls

Ch. 37- Uncle Scott

Welcome back to another installment. I won't keep you to long because I know you are all very interested in reading some more. Just know that this will be another very difficult chapter to talk about and if you are playing along with rule #3 then have the music ready. Let's dive right in shall we?

     Everyone has someone in their family that they wish they could spend more time with or see more often. Sometimes its a grandparent, an aunt, or a very distant cousin that you just look forward to seeing . Well in my case it was my "Uncle," Scott. The reason I have the quotes around Uncle is because technically if you go by the family tree he wasn't actually my uncle. He might as well have been because he was incredible. He was my aunt's husband, and she loved him very dearly. We all did, he was remarkable, kind, and devoted to his work and family. Let me start from the beginning.

     You see Scott was a pilot and loved every minute of it. He enjoyed being in the air because he saw the world from a different angle than the rest of us. Being up there where the birds fly was what he loved. He also loved flying because it brought him closer to god, soaring up in the heavens, pushing the boundaries and seeing new sights. He was very passionate about his job. They say if you love what you do then you never work a day in your life, and in his case that nothing but the truth. The only downside about his job was that we never really got to see him. He was always working around the clock so it was very rare when we could get together as a family and enjoy his company. But when we did see him, those were some of the best times that I have had. He always knew how to make me smile and laugh. He always gave great advice and just knew what to say and how to say it.

     For someone who spent most of their time in the air, he was always so down to earth.  He was usually more aware of what was going around than people who spent their entire lives on the ground. He was always there whenever you needed it the most, especially with his family. He was married to my aunt, and they had two beautiful children together. They were both happy together and they loved each other very much. You could tell by their eyes, the looks they gave each other were of pure love and joy. He was a good man, a great man who had everything he could have ever wanted in life. But that isn't to say he wasn't without his flaws...

     Unfortunately, Uncle Scott was a heavy smoker and enjoyed the drink. He was by no means an alcoholic but he did enjoy drinking. When he drank he was very responsible, he never drank or drove, and he never became violent because of his habits. Unfortunately, these habits took a toll on his body and they eventually caught up with him. You see, my uncle's health started to deteriorate. At first we didn't think much of it. We thought it was just a very severe case of diabetes which is natural because it runs in the family. So he went to the hospital to get everything checked out expecting it to be nothing to severe...but what news we got was much worse than we could have ever expected. 

     We went to go visit him to find out what was going on and he told us he had developed a tumor on his pancreas. At the time of the discovery it was not a very threatening. So they scheduled him to undergo a procedure that was called a Whipple. This procedure is used normally used to treat individuals with cancer on their pancreas and the survival rates are normally in the patients favor. However, it is still a demanding surgery because of the extent of the operation. In a Whipple operation they remove a third of the pancreas, a third of the stomach, and the entire gallbladder, so recovery is very long and very difficult for the patient. He went through with the surgery and everything was great at first. He was recovering nicely, and making excellent progress but then everything changed...

     That night he had trouble breathing because he had contracted a very severe case of pneumonia. After that it was all down hill from there because his body was so weak from the surgery it could not fight very hard. Except he did not give up. His heart stopped for 5 minutes, but they brought him back. He was fighting for his life and it seemed like he was going to come out on top, for once I might not lose someone that I cared about. 

     But then we got the news...he didn't make it through the night. He fought so hard that his body couldn't take it and he died at 11:47 p.m... He was gone, and I would never get to spend anymore time with this incredible man. I was in shock. I couldn't believe it, I thought for sure it was some cruel joke, but it wasn't...he was really gone. The funeral came a few days later, and I had flashbacks to Elizabeth's funeral. He was there at the front of the church, but it wasn't him. It wasn't the man I adored and looked up to. It didn't even look remotely like him, his face had swelled up from all the medicine that they had used to try and save him in the hospital. He lay there but it wasn't him.

     As they lowered his casket into his grave, a plane flew over his grave spraying blue smoke over him. It was in honor of his memory because he loved flying and blue was his favorite color. I still feel the pain of losing him. He was an incredible being, but he was gone... I would never get to here another one of his jokes or hear some more of his advice ever again... As much as it hurts to not have him here anymore, I know he is a better place. We came to find out later that the cancer had spread, so it was inevitable. I think he knew that his time was coming because he was brave up until the very end...

     Uncle Scott... I love you, and I miss you very much. I wish we could have more chances to spend time together as a family, but I cherish the time I did have with you. I will hold those memories very near and dear to my heart forever. Thank you for everything and may you rest in peace...

     Life is a very beautiful thing...but it is also incredibly fragile. One moment and everything can change. We always take life for granted until something reminds us of our mortality, and vulnerability. Enjoy the time you spend with people because you never know when the next time you are going to see them is... This is the end of Ch. 37. See you in the next one