A Beautiful Man
First, I must describe Great-Uncle Sylvio : He was just a little guy--maybe just over five feet tall? He had a head of soft white hair (that was flaming red back in the day), neatly combed, but in later years, sometimes just a bit wilder. He wore large glasses--it was the 80's, of course, and he ALWAYS, I mean always wore a smile! He had the same mischievous twinkle in his eye my granddad had. I loved it! He was always impeccably dressed (though in the house, he wore the cutest slippers). He and Auntie were the most beautiful, most well-matched couple you can imagine. It was if they were ready for an adventure at a moment's call--and what an adventurous couple they were! Mom has told me on many an occasion Auntie and Uncle would get in their car and just drive. Sometimes they would seek out diners, which they loved to try, and sometimes they would seek out churches; Uncle had a fascination with church steeples, I am told.
A Talented Builder
Uncle had a love and a talent for building mini-structures in his basement. He crafted a whole small town complete with a church, a post office, houses, a school, and a general store. He used scrap wood and his own hands, small tools, and lots of glue to lovingly piece each addition together. When we visited, he would not hesitate to invite me down to his cellar to show me his newest creation. He would lift the roof and watch my face as I exclaimed in surprise at the tiny details and furnishings...little beds covered with blankets, little chairs and desks, mail in the mail slots! There were animals, too. Any detail a life-sized structure might house was found in replication in his creations. I sometimes wished The Littles from The Borrowers were real. Oh, how special they would feel to live in such lavish furnishings! When Uncle went to Heaven in 1989, Auntie displayed his town in her livingroom for all to enjoy. Her love for him was so great, she remained faithful to him until 2011, when she joined him in paradise.
A Thoughtful Giver
One Christmas, Uncle made small, green, palm-of-your-hand-sized wooden sleighs for Craig and I and slipped a sliver dollar inside a little trap door on the underneath. The lure of the candy (?) store made me sneak the coin out and spend it not long after. How I wish I had not ruined the integrity of his gift. I would give just about anything to have it as a keepsake now.
When I was a freshman in college, I came home to visit and went with Mom and Dad to Waterville to Auntie and Uncle's house. Uncle chopped down a small pine tree from his backyard, no taller than three feet, brought it down to his basement, and shellacked the dickens out of it so it would remain "alive." I took it back to my dorm room at the University of Southern Maine, where my roommate and I stuck it into a bucket of sand and hung Christmas ornaments on it. It was our Charlie Brown Tree. No one else I knew had a Christmas tree in their room--Uncle's idea.
Just about every time we visited Waterville to see my grandparents--which was at least twice a month while I was in high school, we stopped at Auntie and Uncle's house before heading back home. There they would be, waiting just outside their front door with Lady, their dog, with "Hi Dear's," warm hugs, and broad smiles--and an invitation to visit the basement.
Though my most vivid memories of Uncle only span eight to nine years, I've love him my entire life. Uncle was one-of-a-kind. Never give away those precious, homemade gifts you receive from your loved ones, babies. They are more precious than anything--as is the love they etch on your heart.
Love,
~Mama
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