Well loved

I remember moving into a new house right after my fifth birthday. My parents made that move because they wanted me to have the advantage of kindergarten, something that was not prevalent everywhere at that time.

The day we moved in I saw this man trimming the hedge between his house and ours. I was surprised, because I had been living in my grandmother's huge old Victorian house firmly planted on a corner where no one else ever encroached on my world. And being the kind of person I am, I immediately challenged this stranger. "Why are you cutting our bushes?"

Instead of being offended by an impertinent child he kindly explained that it was both of our bushes and he was just evening off the top. His name was Ralph Brown, soon to be known as Uncle Ralph.

Uncle Ralph and his wife, Aunt Jo, were interesting people. Unable to have children of their own they became surrogate aunts and uncles to many children through the years, but none turned out to be closer than my baby brother who was born the following spring.

Over the course of time they became a second home to him. All the rest of us were well loved and spent a lot of time with them too, playing on their back patio, watching our favorite television program in their air conditioned house, eating dinner at their kitchen bar, or even going to visit the farm. Sometimes, Uncle Ralph, who was the custodian for the local armory, took us to see important people like Gene Autry, or the Governor when they came there. We never missed a Ringling Brothers Circus, or any other wondrous event because our Uncle Ralph was the custodian.  In our eyes he was a very important man. But it was Henry who became the son they'd never had.

Uncle Ralph gave Henry all the wisdom and skills a boy usually gets from his father. Our father was working night and day just to try and keep our heads above water, but we didn't know that. In the end, many years down the road Henry took care of Uncle Ralph and Aunt Jo too, bringing them into his home and making sure they had whatever they needed until they died. He loved them and they loved him too.

That kind of bond seems pretty rare in this world, but no one can have too many people who love them so if you have the chance to become a surrogate parent, or are lucky enough to have surrogate aunts and uncles who love you enough to treat you like their own, consider yourself well loved.