Friday, January 20, 2006
NOVEMBER.....2002
November was a pretty sad month for me. My uncle Roger (whom we always called Buster when I was growing up) called from Nebraska to tell me a good friend of his died and his funeral was to be the following Monday. It was sad because Uncle Roger, his friend Bob Plugge and another friend whom I believe was Doctor Grace, flew down to Missouri to go fishing with my mom and dad for many years.
Mom would cook and bake for days to feed dad and the three guys……..dad would drive to the airport when he heard a plane circle their house a few times which was their prearranged signal. As soon as they unloaded their gear and parked the plane they hurried back to the folks place to pick up mom. It wouldn’t take them long to load the camper with last minute supplies, hook on to the boat and trailer and head for the lake.
Dad would talk for hours about their escapades. They spent more time laughing than fishing it seemed……those were mighty good times for all of them. I was sorry to hear that Bob had died. I called back on Monday when I thought uncle Roger would be back from the funeral to see how he was doing. To my surprise he was sick and couldn’t go and in fact had not gone to work that day….he rarely missed driving his school bus which he did after he retired just for something to do.
I was concerned and called again a few days later and found out that he had gone to the doctor and was admitted to the hospital for severe lung congestion. His son, Roger Phillip, called later to tell me the X-rays showed cancer in the lungs. The news came like a thunder bolt. Not uncle Roger. I loved him like a brother. More testing a few days later showed four brain tumors.
Rocky and I drove to Blair and went straight to the hospital. When we arrived, his wife Phyllis, and some other family members were there……he was resting comfortably and it was great to see him. We had a good visit with everyone until it was time for visitors to leave and we figured he’d had enough company for one evening. We went on to our motel and spent a sleepless night. The next day Hospice care was getting things set up in their home for uncle Roger’s release from the hospital. The whole afternoon was spent getting things packed up at the hospital and moved to their home. There wasn’t much we could do but we helped with what we could.
We thought we should leave the next day because there was a lot of family and visitors and we thought we might be more in the way than any help but uncle Roger asked us to stay another day……and because he asked us to, we did. We had one more good day with him and the family and then it was time to say goodbye. I went over to him and he said, “Have a safe trip home, Esther….” I leaned over and said….. “and you have a safe trip home too, uncle Roger.” His eyes met mine and he said…. “Thank you”… I gave him a kiss and Rocky shook hands with him and we left. Uncle Roger died six days later……..his journey was over.
Until tomorrow,
Essentially Esther
Mom would cook and bake for days to feed dad and the three guys……..dad would drive to the airport when he heard a plane circle their house a few times which was their prearranged signal. As soon as they unloaded their gear and parked the plane they hurried back to the folks place to pick up mom. It wouldn’t take them long to load the camper with last minute supplies, hook on to the boat and trailer and head for the lake.
Dad would talk for hours about their escapades. They spent more time laughing than fishing it seemed……those were mighty good times for all of them. I was sorry to hear that Bob had died. I called back on Monday when I thought uncle Roger would be back from the funeral to see how he was doing. To my surprise he was sick and couldn’t go and in fact had not gone to work that day….he rarely missed driving his school bus which he did after he retired just for something to do.
I was concerned and called again a few days later and found out that he had gone to the doctor and was admitted to the hospital for severe lung congestion. His son, Roger Phillip, called later to tell me the X-rays showed cancer in the lungs. The news came like a thunder bolt. Not uncle Roger. I loved him like a brother. More testing a few days later showed four brain tumors.
Rocky and I drove to Blair and went straight to the hospital. When we arrived, his wife Phyllis, and some other family members were there……he was resting comfortably and it was great to see him. We had a good visit with everyone until it was time for visitors to leave and we figured he’d had enough company for one evening. We went on to our motel and spent a sleepless night. The next day Hospice care was getting things set up in their home for uncle Roger’s release from the hospital. The whole afternoon was spent getting things packed up at the hospital and moved to their home. There wasn’t much we could do but we helped with what we could.
We thought we should leave the next day because there was a lot of family and visitors and we thought we might be more in the way than any help but uncle Roger asked us to stay another day……and because he asked us to, we did. We had one more good day with him and the family and then it was time to say goodbye. I went over to him and he said, “Have a safe trip home, Esther….” I leaned over and said….. “and you have a safe trip home too, uncle Roger.” His eyes met mine and he said…. “Thank you”… I gave him a kiss and Rocky shook hands with him and we left. Uncle Roger died six days later……..his journey was over.
Until tomorrow,
Essentially Esther
