I lost my Uncle this Fall, the most amazing man whose love of life was an inspiration to all. Experiencing such an unexpected and devastating loss has truly shaken me. Amid my grief, I have acquired a renewed sense of urgency and gratitude. It is a struggle, but I have decided I must share the same love of life that my Uncle Beav happily shared with everyone he encountered.

For Christmas, we gave my Aunt two beautiful pendants.  One of she and my Uncle during our last visit, in front of their “lake house” and the other of them with my cousin and their daughter-in-law at their baby shower. My sweet baby cousin was born a month after the sudden loss of her Poppy, so my hope was to give Sweet P the pendant of her parents and grandparents as a keepsake.

During a round of putt-putt golf, my Uncle joked and asked me to take a picture of them in front of their lake house.

My Aunt decided to get each of my girls a pendant with a picture from our last visit.  It seemed fitting to present them with their surprise on his birthday. My girls were both delighted and overcome with sadness because they simply do not understand why we lost him at the young age of 56.

When I asked the girls to think of a sweet or funny memory, my youngest, nicknamed Squeaker by my Uncle, giggled. I asked her what made her laugh and she said, “Uncle Beaver used to say ‘Kiss me dahling’ before he gave us smoochers.”

Before they went to bed, I held their faces in my hands, reminded them that Uncle Beav lives on in their hearts, and said, “kiss me dahling”, then kissed them goodnight. They blew me a kiss, patted their hand on their heart, and told me they love me with all of their hearts, just as he did at the end of our FaceTime only a few days before he suddenly passed away.