You Are My Sunshine, My Only Sunshine
My Uncle Pete loves my Aunt Mary –
everything else is detail. And it’s been
that way for 61 years. Anyone who has
ever known them would tell you the same thing.
There so much to admire about my uncle, but the thing I will remember
most about him is not what an amazing man he is, which he is for sure. He has a great work ethic, an admirable sense
of integrity, a caring and generous spirit and he genuinely loves people. He is
also a highly decorated veteran, having fought in two wars. He is a great
father, having raised three wonderful children, a loving grandfather, blessed
with seven grandchildren and the favored uncle to many, many nieces and
nephews. He is a great man, but that is not what I will remember most.
What I will remember most about my
Uncle Pete is how much he loves my Aunt Mary.
There has never been even one time that I have been in their company,
that it was not crystal clear that my Uncle Pete was in love with my Aunt
Mary. And I do not mean that he loves my
Aunt Mary, but that he is visibly IN LOVE with my Aunt Mary. He looks at her the way a teenager looks at
his first love – except he looks at her that way and they are married 60+
years. I’ve spent hours at their dinning
room table, eating homemade Italian cookies and drinking coffee while my uncle
would tell me stories of their growing up years or of his having fought in
World War II, and at the end of the story, he would look at my Aunt and say,
“Isn’t that right, Mary?” or “Just ask your Aunt Mary”, as though nothing it
the world could possibly be true unless my Aunt Mary said it was true.
Among my favorite stories is the
one where my Aunt Mary swears that my Uncle Pete would never have married her
except that his sister, my Aunt Kate, insisted that he date and subsequently
marry my Aunt Mary. They have both told
me this story time and time again as though it were the truth. My own mother verifies the story each time
they tell it. The only problem is that
each time they tell it, they do so with that spark of love still alive in
theirs eyes, giving away the mischief and revealing the obvious, which is my
Uncle Pete married my Aunt Mary because he loved her more than life
itself.
Today, when I got to the hospital,
my uncle was lying in bed, with an oxygen mask on his face. My aunt pressed her forehead against my
uncles and she sang “You are my Sunshine, my only Sunshine.” There was not a dry eye in the room. The room was filled with people and medical
equipment; however, quite frankly, the thing most notable was the spark in my
uncle’s eye when he looked at my aunt.
There he was, twenty pounds lighter than I remember him, barely able to
move his arms, unable to speak, looking at my aunt like they were teenagers in
love.
I will remember forever the way my
Uncle Pete loves my Aunt Mary. He loves
her more than anyone has every loved anyone.
In my fifty-one years, I have seen a lot of remarkable things and have
had a lot of cherished memories. The
thing about those moments is that they come and go – unlike the love that my
Uncle Pete and Aunt Mary have kept constant for over 60 years. I am humbled and honored to have shared in
that love and to have that memory in my heart forever. My Uncle Pete loves my Aunt Mary – everything
else is detail.
