You're probably thinking this is a story about racism - what with Uncle Tom in the title - but I'm not trying to mislead you.  

I really have an Uncle Tom. He's my Dad's brother. Born and raised and lived his entire life in Lima, Ohio. Worked in the post office. Has battled weight problems his entire adult life. No family left there. His son (my cousin) died a year and a half ago from the complications of morbid obesity. He weighed over 500 pounds.

I finally got his address last year. He doesn't have a phone. No computer. Hard to get in touch with. Really hard.

Sent him a christmas card with my phone number and asked him to call. He did...

"Hey Beth, it's your fat old Uncle Tom here..."

We talked for a while. Tried to catch up on 20 years in 15 minutes. Asked him how he was doing after Eric's death. Asked him what he was doing to keep himself busy. Working part time delivering pizzas, he said.

He'll be 67 this month.

Said he'd love to come out this way - never  been to California. Never been west of Iowa...did do some time overseas in the Air Force, but other than that, never got around too much.

I said sure....come on out. Whenever. That was January.

Last week he called and said he was coming. He rented a car and drove all the way in less than 48 hours. He showed up on Monday.

We had a few laughs, caught up on the lost years and I cooked alot.

He couldn't do too much but eat. Most everything around here requires a walk or a hike. He complained about going up and down the stairs and the altitude made things even worse.

So I drove him up to the top of Donner Summit.

And I took him to the Donner Memorial.

And I set him up with his first ever email account.

He left early this morning without saying thanks or goodbye. He didn't say thanks because he never was very well mannered. He didn't say goodbye because I think he might have realized it would probably be the last time we'd ever see each other.  Or maybe that's just what I was thinking.

It is what it is. As a good friend of mine said last week...some things just can't be tied up in a nice little package with a bow. They just are.