Current mood:	depressed
Current music:	Hellacopters-By the Grace of God

Uncle Carl
Uncle Carl was born on 17 June 1964. He was the youngest brother of my father, Charlie. My grandfather pressured his children into going to college at Penn State to become engineers, but none of them actually succeeded. Uncle Carl decided to change that, when he graduated high school he went to the University of Texas to study economics. After graduating, he attended Stanford University and received his law degree. For a few years, he practiced law in San Francisco, but decided to move down to Victoria, Texas and start up his own firm. That is where he met his wife, Amy Richardson. In 1994, he received the best news of his life, Amy was pregnant. Nicole Marie was born on the 4th of November, and three years later, her sister Katherine Rae came into this world, on the 30th of March.
Uncle Carl was a completely happy person, who was devoted to his wife and children. He had a very successful law practice and was well loved in the town of Victoria. I remember as a child going to visit him, or him coming to visit us. He taught me many things, and definitely helped influence the man I have become. His tragic death shocked us all. He was killed on Saturday the 29th. He was out cutting his grass on his riding lawnmower, when a car was driving by, and hit the curb. The guy must have been going at least 100 mph because when he hit the curb, his car went airborne, and unfortunately at that moment Uncle Carl’s lawnmower was near the sidewalk. The car caught Uncle Carl’s head, and decapitated him.
I got the call Saturday afternoon by my father. He told me that he booked us both a flight for Monday morning and that the funeral was on Wednesday. We arrived in Victoria, along with many other family members, including my grandparents who were completely distraught over his death.
Now something I should mention about Uncle Carl: he was a prankster. I could tell you so many different tales about things he has done to all of his family members over the years. When we talked to the funeral home, they informed us they were having a tough time reattaching the head, and that it would have to be a closed casket viewing. And jokingly my dad says, “ya know, Carl woulda probably said to just put his head in his lap.” Everyone laughed, and then we realized that was it, what better way to remember Uncle Carl then to show him in his true comedic nature. So there it was, Uncle Carl holding his head at his waist. It was definitely an amusing site, if not a bit morbid.
After the funeral, everyone started heading back to their homes except for Dad and I. We were coming home on Sunday because we wanted to stick around to make sure Amy and the kids were going to be okay. Amy’s family had passed away a few years ago, and she had no siblings. Uncle Carl had a very large insurance policy, and tons of money invested, which definitely helps them out. While Dad and Amy went about getting things in order, I took the task of making sure the children were okay. Oddly enough, by Thursday they were both tired of being at home and wanted to go to school. So I drove them to school, in Uncle Carl’s brand new Nissan Titan full size truck (extremely nice vehicle)...Anyways, when I get there, I walk each of them to their class, and tell them if they need me to just call my cell phone, and I will come pick them up. As I am leaving from Nikki’s class, her teacher comes out and wants to talk to me. She wants to know if Nikki is okay with everything, and I tell her that the kids are a little of it, like they have yet to realize what has happened. Miss Simmons, who by the way is quite the fox for a 30 year old woman, asks how I am doing. I tell her that I am fine, and then she says, well if you need someone to talk to, that I should call her and we could maybe get dinner. So later that night, I give her a call, and we head out to dinner. Beth is her name, and may I say, she is quite attractive. We have an excellent time. I tell her my major and what I study, and she asks me if I would like to come to Nikki’s class on Friday and maybe give them a little presentation on archaeology and ancient Near East, and how could I say no?
Friday after taking the girls to school, I go on in and give a decent little history lesson and tell the children about what archaeology is like. This helped me forget about why I was really in Victoria for a little bit and do what I love to do. Oh and later that night, I met up with Beth again, and well let me just say, we had a great time, if you catch my drift. Okay, I know it’s horrible, going to my cousin’s school and banging her teacher right after Uncle Carl was buried, but hey, what can I say?
Saturday went by without anything major happening, and then Sunday morning we left Texas. At the airport, Nikki and Kat were crying because they did not want me to leave and it broke my heart, and I actually considered staying for another week, which is odd since I always profess how much I dislike children. And here I am, home wondering if they are fine, hoping that they can survive this ordeal. I am sure they will, they are a strong set of women.


DISCLAIMER: THIS IS A WORK OF FICTION. PLEASE NOTE THE DATES, WHICH ARE MENTIONED, I AM TALKING ABOUT EVENTS THAT HAPPEN IN A FEW DAYS. PLEASE DO NOT SEND ME MESSAGES SAYING YOU ARE SORRY TO HEAR ABOUT MY UNCLE CARL OR HOW I’M A DICK FOR SLEEPING WITH THAT GIRL. NONE OF THIS HAPPENED. I HAVE NO FAMILY IN TEXAS.