My Uncle Bobby died today. He was married to my Mom's older sister. He was a good uncle. He yelled alot and laughed alot and was someone I could count on. If you were bad, he would bluster and yell and yet never really make you feel bad, even though he was a big man he wasn't scary. He always called us 'baby' in a very endearing way. If you fell down he would say, "Come here, baby!" and comfort you. If you were sick he would say, "What's the matter, baby!" and comfort you. I remember one Easter, I was feeling really sick and he was over at our house while my Granny, Aunts and my Mom were out on their usual holiday shopping spree. He made me potato soup and fussed over me, and then me, my sibs and my cousins spent the rest of the afternoon coloring the dozens of eggs that he and my dad had prepared.
He would do funny spur of the moment things. One summer at my Aunt Sue's house he ran out of the house jumped up on the top rail of her deck and did a giant swan dive into her pool. The deck was a very high deck and it was almost like he jumped from the second floor of a building He was over fifty years old at the time. Another time when we down at my Grandparent's cabin down at the Lake of the Ozarks, my mom and my Aunt (his wife) were lying on the little dock sunning themselves. They had very carefully made their way onto the little dock without getting their hair wet (a Sousley sister NEVER gets her do wet!). They were very pleased with themselves. Bobby was on the big dock fishing. The next thing I knew he came flying off the big dock and did a giant cannonball right next to the little dock, soaking my Mom and Aunt including their perfect Soulsey Sister's hair!! They were so pissed!!! I laughed and laughed. He was even older then. He always made an alcoholic drink called a Grasshopper during the summer and he would always let us have a little taste.
When my Cousin Melinda got married, he was really drunk (who in my family wasn't? That bunch loved to party!) and when we were all at their house getting ready to sleep (the house was filled to the gills!) he was walking down the hall way in his undies and my Aunt was yelling at him that we we could all see him through the doorway, so he stopped and did a little dance and she was yelling, "Real cute Bob! Reaallllll cute!" This is something that one of us will suddenly say to each other to make us all laugh. "Real cute!" is classic Sousley sister snottiness and something my Mom uses all the time
When my cousin and I were roomates (in KC), we would drive up to visit my Aunt and Uncle in Illinois, the minute we would arrive he would shoo us out of the car and then spend most of the weekend washing it, changing the oil, fixing this and that, fussing at my cousin for not taking proper care of it...he loved every minute of it....he would have been hurt if we had driven up in a clean, freshly oiled car.
When he was older and couldn't move very well, my dad would go over to his house and take care of all the house's maintance needs...he would clean the gutters, tend the garden, whatever need to be done. He would also take my Uncle out to eat all the time. My Uncle loved my Dad and when my Dad got sick, he was very upset. He would call my dad every single day and talk to him (my dad wasn't much of a talker, but he understood that my Uncle need to talk to him). He took my father's death very hard and I know that he missed him very much. As he was slipping away today, my Aunt told him to go and find my Granny and Tux (my dad) because they were waiting for him.
I'll miss you, Bobby...
He would do funny spur of the moment things. One summer at my Aunt Sue's house he ran out of the house jumped up on the top rail of her deck and did a giant swan dive into her pool. The deck was a very high deck and it was almost like he jumped from the second floor of a building He was over fifty years old at the time. Another time when we down at my Grandparent's cabin down at the Lake of the Ozarks, my mom and my Aunt (his wife) were lying on the little dock sunning themselves. They had very carefully made their way onto the little dock without getting their hair wet (a Sousley sister NEVER gets her do wet!). They were very pleased with themselves. Bobby was on the big dock fishing. The next thing I knew he came flying off the big dock and did a giant cannonball right next to the little dock, soaking my Mom and Aunt including their perfect Soulsey Sister's hair!! They were so pissed!!! I laughed and laughed. He was even older then. He always made an alcoholic drink called a Grasshopper during the summer and he would always let us have a little taste.
When my Cousin Melinda got married, he was really drunk (who in my family wasn't? That bunch loved to party!) and when we were all at their house getting ready to sleep (the house was filled to the gills!) he was walking down the hall way in his undies and my Aunt was yelling at him that we we could all see him through the doorway, so he stopped and did a little dance and she was yelling, "Real cute Bob! Reaallllll cute!" This is something that one of us will suddenly say to each other to make us all laugh. "Real cute!" is classic Sousley sister snottiness and something my Mom uses all the time
When my cousin and I were roomates (in KC), we would drive up to visit my Aunt and Uncle in Illinois, the minute we would arrive he would shoo us out of the car and then spend most of the weekend washing it, changing the oil, fixing this and that, fussing at my cousin for not taking proper care of it...he loved every minute of it....he would have been hurt if we had driven up in a clean, freshly oiled car.
When he was older and couldn't move very well, my dad would go over to his house and take care of all the house's maintance needs...he would clean the gutters, tend the garden, whatever need to be done. He would also take my Uncle out to eat all the time. My Uncle loved my Dad and when my Dad got sick, he was very upset. He would call my dad every single day and talk to him (my dad wasn't much of a talker, but he understood that my Uncle need to talk to him). He took my father's death very hard and I know that he missed him very much. As he was slipping away today, my Aunt told him to go and find my Granny and Tux (my dad) because they were waiting for him.
I'll miss you, Bobby...