What a treat to spend time with Uncle Bill over the years. The summer I lived with Masma and Paspa I remember him coming by their house and mentioning he had just purchased the new Porsche Boxer! We were standing in the kitchen, and I was so excited to see the car I headed straight for the door. "Oh, I don't have the car. I paid my money to get on the waiting list. I'll get the car in (6 or 10 months)." I don't remember how long. Wow, I had never heard of buying a spot on a waiting list for a car. Pretty cool.
In the last few years we've been able to coax Uncle Bill out here to ski a couple of times. I don't believe he had a laptop on his first visit and although I think he did on the second visit, I don't remember seeing it out much. This is very atypical behavior for a McAllister visiting. He'd sit on the stool in the kitchen with his back leaning against the wall and just chat all evening with all of us. I'm sure he observed some crazy things from our family. He'd made verbal observations like "he's seeing how far he can go." "He's testing the waters." He had some other accurate one liners. He talked about how in life there things we can control and things we can't and to make the best of it. He often pitched in to sweep the floor or help clean up after dinner. On his ski days we rarely saw him, since we do have the "best snow on earth."
In 2010, Uncle Bill was here during the winter Olympics. We don't have cable and at that time we didn't have the converter box for digital stations. Uncle Bill offered to go to Radio Shack and pick one up so we could all watch the games. He did. When he returned we realized we also needed a new antenae to make the box work so Bill patiently returned to Radio Shack to buy some. I'm not the best hostess. It was very nice to watch the Olympics all together and he told us of several events that his boys had done that we were watching on TV.
It was awesome to have Uncle Bill and Uncle Peter at the family reunion. They were so patient with us, and I enjoyed the times to visit.
We tried to send Uncle Bill some cards and keep in touch in the last couple of years and instead of writing back (which he didn't need to do), he would call us every now and then. As my family knows, I'm not very good about picking up the phone myself to keep in touch, so him taking the time to call us meant a lot.
When I heard Uncle Bill had passed away, I thought of how wonderful the reunion with his parents and loved ones was that day. Uncle Bill endured a lot, especially in the last 6 months of his life and Joey and Nathan, Patty, and Dad were so good to him it just gave my heart peace. I'm sure there were others who eased his load. Thank you, thank you.
I can hear his voice in my head saying those one liners, "He's testing the waters." :) thanks for sharing.
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