Uncle Ed and Life's Purposes

From the time I can first remember, Uncle Ed has been part of my consciousness. At family reunions he always makes the "there's nothing to do" into something fun - a game, going to get A&W or watermelon, figuring out where to put the firecrackers for the biggest effect, telling jokes or stories of when he was young. Count on it.

Aunt Norma is always around for support. I remember being anxious for the girls to arrive because it was going to be much more fun at the reunion. But I think Uncle Ed filled the role of "lead kid." Even as he matures and the big family reunions are relegated to the past, he remains "lead kid." During my visit in April 2010 he continued to recall stories of his growing up and could share them as if they were yesterday the way he had many times before - suspected embellishments and all.

As his health now fails and the likelihood of future Owens family reunions, at least the way I remember them, grows dim, I think back on my recollections (and a few I could not remember as I wasn't born yet) of Uncle Ed and his family legacy.

A while back I was challenged to reduce what I thought of as my "mission" or "purpose" to a sentence. I came up with "it is my purpose to leave people around me a little better off than they were before I was there." I don't see it as a requirement that I make their life worth living or make a huge impression. I feel it is a little thing at a time for whoever I am around. Shortly after that I realized I had taken the idea from Uncle Ed's influence on my life. Nothing earthshaking - just every time I was around him I felt things were a little better. I think he must have struck many people that way.

As I work through life - first its our job to make the grownups proud, then to learn things, then to become independent, then have kids who make us proud, then become independent again, then fulfill all life dreams if we have any money left - I have thought about what I will leave when I can't move around any more. I can't think of anything better than for people to say "he reminds me of Edward Owen."