Goodbye, Uncle Toronado!

Emblem for the 338th Fighter Squadron, RAF Ridgewell, Essex, England 1944

This is a P-38 of the 338th, taken over England in 1944.  Uncle Toronado could well have been the pilot!

Uncle Toronado, who lost his wife of 60 years in January, died comfortably in his armchair yesterday morning while reading the paper.  Even though he never got my Grandma's t-bird running, he owned and cherished it for 20 years.  He finally got to ride in it when I visited him in January.  I felt privileged to share this car with him!  It was a sublime blessing to drive him to breakfast, and then to the hospital to visit his wife.  I regret that I didn't get a picture of the two of us in the car.

Uncle Toronado called me last week, just to see how I was doing after Dad died, and to thank me for spending time with him during his wife's illness.  He was always a thoughtful and compassionate man.   I longed for my own father to be more like him, and was jealous of my cousins for having such a caring Dad. I wish I could have spent more time with him.

I will miss him.

So much loss.  It seems more than I can bear.
Lord, help me to more deeply cherish each relationship you put in my life!