Dear Uncle Paul, my first memory of you was at one of Dad's famous fourth of July celebrations at our little house in Mountlake Terrace, WA. I was about five or so, you were home from college to visit. The next thing I remember is being in your arms, wearing a Notre Dame t-shirt (which I still have)!
Flash forward forty years...you were there for me when I went back to school in mid-life and encouraged me to stay the course. Your help with my neuroplasticity project was immensely appreciated, and I'll never forget the moment we delighted in our shared love of gerontology.
I was just getting to know you as a whole person (not just as my doctor Uncle in Indiana) these past few years or so, and I want you to know, I'm so grateful for all of it--what immense energy and light you had, damn.
Thank you for being there for me when my dad, your brother Scott, passed. Thank you for teaching me how to make Grandma Julia's ping (for the ravioli), for making the most delicious gravlax bagel sandwich on the planet, for all the Monty Python battle of the wits banter, for making me feel seen, and for swapping music loves across the wires. I'll keep "talking" to you and about you til it's my time to beam up, or as you would quip in there somewhere, "God willin' and the creek don't rise...!" Love you, and much love to your family. Big back-slappin' Italian style hugs, Katie
Angel From Montgomery
John Prine (1971)
I am an old woman named after my mother,
My old man is another child that's grown old,
If dreams were lightning, thunder were desire,
This old house would have burnt down a long time ago...
Make me an angel that flies from Montgomery,
Make me a poster of an old rodeo,
Just give me one thing that I can hold on to,
To believe in this living is just a hard way to go...
When I was a young girl well, I had me a cowboy,
He weren't much to look at, just a free rambling man,
But that was a long time and no matter how I try,
The years just flow by like a broken down dam...
Make me an angel that flies from Montgomery,
Make me a poster of an old rodeo
Just give me one thing that I can hold on to,
To believe in this living is just a hard way to go...
There's flies in the kitchen, I can hear 'em there buzzing,
And I ain't done nothing since I woke up today,
How the hell can a person go to work in the morning,
And come home in the evening and have nothing to say...
Make me an angel that flies from Montgomery,
Make me a poster of an old rodeo,
Just give me one thing that I can hold on to,
To believe in this living is just a hard way to go...