Cafe Comfort

My dear uncle passed away this week. I had not seen him for the last 20 years. I don't know why. A great uncle really means a lot to any young little girl growing up. Especially one with so many artistic qualities, wits, and impeccable good looks and style. In my mind, he stays the way I last saw him. Healthy, funny and care-free. He was never married. He was not gay nor picky. Women loved him but I just never knew what happened in the end. Everything he collected was a piece of art and you can very rarely find it or buy it any where. I love every picture he hanged on the wall, everything he placed on the floor, on the shelves, on the table. He never wore a pair of jeans. He wore only shirts that breathe, and clothings and shoes of earth-tone colors found in nature. My sister fell in the pond in front of his house once when we were kids trying to catch a glimpse of the big turtle under the lotus leaves. It was such a long time ago that it feels almost like a dream now. Sometimes we are not sure if it really happened, but it really did. He had a parrot that talked a lot. He had a wild monkey at one point, too.
I miss him so much. I had wanted to show him where I went to school, go to work and the house I am living now. I would love to see him laughing at my yard and teach me how to fix it. I had wanted to take him to all the different places and hear what he has to say. I thought of him this week while going to work. I suddenly thought of the gift he gave me when I was a kid. That was the first and only time he ever visited our house. I wonder if our minds were somehow connected for that one moment before he stopped breathing... He was just one of a kind. I will never know anyone quite like him again. I had no idea he was not well. In my mind, he's always smiling and enjoying life. I tried to look for any pictures I might have of him after I heard the news from my mom...but I found none. How can that be? Now, all I want is to have some pictures of him. There will be no wake service. No goodbyes. It's sad and just too sad for all of us who loved him.
Work is especially unbearable this week... Seeing a Starbucks is almost like seeing my house and I just want to rush in there and not come out. I wish I could just sit inside all day and go through all my memories of him. May the Good Lord take special good care of him. Amen.

I happened to read about the following in one of the blogs today. That's exactly my mistake, my fault, my stupidity.
我們總是認為未來還很遠，能做的還很多，確不知道，再多的以為都可能在瞬間變成幻影。