letter-to-mom

RIP Uncle Tom, Shows, Games and Friends

Dan Weatbrook

— 5 min read
RIP Uncle Tom, Shows, Games and Friends
RIP Uncle Tom -- You have been and are an inspiration to five generations and to countless more to come.

Good morning! I hope that this day you are able to find joy and peace within yourself and all that you have the chance to interact with.

These past couple of weeks, Catherine and I have had the pleasure and opportunity to celebrate the life of my beloved Uncle Tom with friends and Family. Uncle Tom has always been one of my favorite uncles. He and my Aunt Do (sounds like Doe) were married for 71 years, and have four wonderful kids whom I have always idolized as the great big cousins. Getting to go to Aunt Do's and Uncle Tom's and hang with my cousins was always one of my treats growing up. Whether that was their home in the Tri-cities, Federal Way, Spokane, or TumTum, I always relish the time. This time was no different. Catherine and I had the chance to go to Spokane to see him on Friday, March 20th, before he passed. When I walked in, Aunt Do and my cousin Sandy just looked at me as if I were a stranger. It wasn't until I spoke that they realized who I was, having trimmed my beard short and lost 40 pounds since they last saw me. It was a pleasant visit. All of their kids were there, and it was nice to catch up with them, and many of their kids and their grandkids were there as well. We made that trip a short trip and headed home that day.

Uncle Tom passed quietly on Monday, the 23rd.

I'm so glad that we had the chance to see him and the family before he passed. The funeral was on Saturday, the 28th, with the wake on Friday before. So Catherine and I headed back over there on Friday, getting there in plenty of time to attend the wake and the Rosary. Mom had come into town on Tuesday, and Sue and Judy were able to make it in for the funeral as well.

On Saturday morning, Catherine, Sue, Judy, and I had breakfast with my Cousin Doug, his wife, Maggie, and their daughter, Sahale, before heading out to Ford for the funeral, burial, and reception. It was so nice to catch up with so many people we don't often see. In the evening, after the services, I had reserved the private dining room at the Spokane Casino, and a lot of the cousins from my generation had the chance to have a little after-party and visit with each other. These are some of the best moments of attending a funeral: the chance to catch up with people you otherwise don't cross paths with on a regular basis, but who you have such deep love and warmth for.

I would like to give a special call-out to my cousin Debbie, who did such a wonderful job of keeping everyone in the loop and coordinating all these activities. She did it all with such grace and compassion. Thank you, Debbie.

On Sunday, my cousin Krista joined Catherine and me at Aunt Do's house, where we said goodbye to my cousin Doug and his family before they headed back home to Onalaska. After a bit, Krista headed home, and then it was Catherine and me visiting with Mom and her sister for a couple of hours, listening to the reminiscing about growing up out at Ford. It was quite lovely.

This week our weekly sailing season starts, and so I am looking forward to that.

Hope all is well with everyone!

Love you all.

Dan W

Athena loves being outside in the sunbeams.
I had the chance to head out to Sammamish High School on Saturday for the annual robot competition. It's so inspiring to see what these teams are able to build for these events. My buddy Aaron's kids team 2046 - Bear Metal is currently ranked 4th in the district.
This is NOT the facility I graduated from some 42 years ago!
So different from when I went there.
We also had the chance to go see our friend Randi perform her aerial act at the Silver Fox's show.
We also had the opportunity to see Young Frankenstein, produced by the Woodland Park Players.
Hanging out with Former Expedia coworkers.
The Catholic church at Ford Washington
The Pall Bearers dug the grave in the morning, and filled it in as part of the service.
Visiting at the reception.
My cousin Steve and Catherine catching up.
A bunch of the folks from my generation had the chance to hang out after the reception.
Jason and I went to the Mariners game on Wednesday. He's a Yankees fan, so we sat behind their dugout. We both rode our bikes down there in the pissing rain.
The seats for the game were pretty good.
And we were right under the flying camera.

PS. - special thanks to Catherine for taking such wonderful care of me on Wednesday night. When I told her that my back hurt, and I couldn't get comfortable, she suspected right away that it was a kidney stone, and she was right. She got me to the ER, where they were able to confirm that, and tend to me. I seem to have passed it, since I have felt fine since Thursday afternoon.

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