A moment of sadness...

My mother emailed me this morning to relate that a great-uncle had passed away from brain cancer. Despite the huge rift in that side of the family and the subsequent lack of communication, I still feel sad. I can recall playing at their house as a small child while my mother worked, playing with cousins and going to the park next door. Although distant and fuzzy, they are still memories of a happy childhood and I'm sad for the loss my cousins are suffering. I hope any pain he suffered was short-lived and that the family can look at this, to some degree, as a merciful occurence.

ADDENDUM: Okay, so keeping in mind my reference to the lack of communication on that particular side of the family, I learned this weekend that I had the wrong great-uncle in mind that had passed away. It's almost comedy the way no one talks on that side. It's a good thing we checked the obituary notices because we would have been sending condolences to the wrong people!! Which also means this was an uncle that I have only seen a handful of times during my entire life. I can't even claim a remote connection of familiarity with his family. (Sadly enough, in reading the names of his children (my cousins), I can't even recall ever meeting them!)