On September 11th, Uncle Joe and Aunt Mary came to visit from Phoenix. I always enjoy their visits so much--it means so much to me that they came down from Indy. This year, Uncle Joe brought this pod-like thing from a Catalpa tree. Why? Because when he, my dad, and their brothers were little, they all tried to smoke one of these things. And...they got caught by their mom! It looks like a long green cigar. I cannot imagine my dad doing this! And he was the oldest! Who put them up to it? Joe couldn't remember--but he was the youngest so it wasn't him. Probably Dad or Bill. I love that story. Joe always has a story or two to tell.

Another one was when Dad called him and was very upset about something at work. It seems that Dad had designed some type of machine that would replace some workers--and Dad was feeling badly about this. It really bothered him that those guys might lose their jobs. I never knew this! I never knew Dad designed a machine or any of it. Dad just did not talk much. I treasure spending time with Uncle Joe and hearing things like this.

Joe and Mary are such lovely people. They took Susan and I out to lunch. When we got back, Uncle Joe smoked his pipe on the patio. I loved that. Here he was sitting there on the patio--where he had lived as a boy. He talked about the tree that he and his mom planted. He talked about pouring the patio and not knowing what he was doing! (We no longer have that patio).
And he always mentions how he tried to get them to move the stairway so that it was there as you came in the front door.

I will admit--when I heard Uncle Joe's voice on the phone, I got teary. It made me miss Dad. Their voices were different, but there's something about the way he said certain words or phrases that reminded me of Dad.

Love you and miss you, Dad.

Susie

p.s. It is now Feb. of 2010 and I still have Uncle Joe's voicemail. I can't delete it. It reminds me so much of Dad and I love Uncle Joe, too.